Sunday, August 23, 2015

"Less Government" Simpletons


This is a photograph in today's Washington Post, page A-3. It shows a man, Brad Craig, giving a grateful handshake to a firefighter who has just saved his home from a wildfire in the state of Washington.

The story mentions that "The country marked its 10th day at Preparedness Level 5, the highest set by federal authorities, indicating that there are active fires in many areas and that have yet to be contained. The federal government on Saturday reported 11 new fires in the Northwestern states and California, taking the number of active fires in the country to 70." Earlier this week three firefighters died in the wildfires, while the US Bureau of Land Management coordinates the efforts of 29,000 firefighters fighting many fires from California to Alaska.

The smiling Brad Craig is wearing a t-shirt that says, "Less government, MORE FREEDOM."

Listen, the government is a gigantic bureaucratic slug that seems to barely keep up as the world rushes forward. We are here in Washington DC, we know about the government, we see it every day. A bunch of normal people get up in the morning and go to some office to do some tedious, thankless work that will probably be undone as soon as the next election's votes are counted. There is no glamour and very few attaboys, the pay isn't great but the benefits are.

The government is our society's way of coordinating a lot of services. Mostly these are services that would not be performed very well by private corporations, and many of them are things that we all rely on at one time or another, often without giving it a thought. The government doesn't belong to anybody, sometimes it seems like one group or another gets too much influence but generally the government reflects the choices of the electorate and functions to serve all of us. If you don't like the way it works, you are always welcome to participate in making it better. If you have a better idea than voting for leaders then let us know. In the meantime, that's how we do it. Sometimes your candidate wins, sometimes not.

We benefit from government just like this idiot, smiling at these firefighters while he's wearing a shirt suggesting that there should be fewer of them. Or maybe he just thinks they should be paid less, or that they do not really need all that safety equipment and airplanes and stuff.

We pay for these necessary services through taxes. It's a good deal. You contribute a certain amount of your wealth to the common good, and you can drive on roads and bridges that don't cave in on you, you can buy food that is not contaminated, you can fly in an airplane that won't crash into another airplane, because somebody's coordinating the traffic. We assume without question that we can breathe the air, drink the water, eat the food that is served us, congregate safely in public, we have parks and museums and transportation to get us there. If your neighborhood is on fire or there is an earthquake or a flood, somebody will come to save you if they can. We have the largest defense system in the world, by far. You and I might not agree with everything that is done, our priorities might differ, but there is a need for a service organization that is not hustling for profits, to coordinate efforts to carry out the needs of the people. And by and large our government gets the job done.

There is a continuum that shades from ignorance and irony into hypocrisy by degrees. And it strikes me that Brad Craig, whose house was saved by the government he despises, even while he smiles and shakes the hands of the firefighters that the government sent, has veered well beyond ignorance and irony. Unfortunately this kind of simpleton is all too common these days.

334 Comments:

Anonymous TTF for Trump said...

I think government should only perform certain functions because it tends to cross the line from servant to overseer too easily. I'm sure a couple of hundreds years ago people would have delighted that government would one day pay for education for everyone. They would have had no idea that it would become the nightmare it has.

But, if you believe in big government, your candidate is Donald Trump. He supports higher taxes on the rich, funding Planned Parenthood, single-payer health insurance, eliminating international free trade agreements, et al. There's a reason he was a major Democratic donor for so many years

When Obama took office, Congress approved his request to borrow a trillion dollar to rebuild our infrastructure with "shovel ready projects". The country's infrastructure is falling apart. You really think that would have happened under President Trump?

August 23, 2015 8:58 PM  
Anonymous old Gray Lady takes her meds said...

intelligence in the NY Times? it sometimes happens:


http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/22/gay-rights-and-the-race-analogy/?ref=todayspaper

August 23, 2015 9:00 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Surveys of conservatives show most agree that the government is too large and should be cut. But when they were asked which specific government services they would like to cut the vast majority said they didn't want to cut any of them.

Conservatives - not deep thinkers.

For conservatives, hating the government is a marker of ideological purity rather than based in any rational thinking. Conservative politicians have spent decades telling the public the government is incompetent, corrupt, and unnecessary despite all evidence to the contrary. When Democrats are in power Republicans have done everything they can to make government not working a self-fullfilling prophecy. They block the government from working at every step and then blame the Democrats for government not working, knowing that the majority of the public doesn't know who's in charge of congress at any given time and will automatically blame the president's party for the dysfunction by default.

Republicans go on and on about how "the government should be cut until its small enough to be drown in a bathtub" but then hypocritcally seek to control government and when they do control it all the talk about the need to cut the deficit and government goes out the window.

90% of the deficits run up under Obama were the result of decisions made by George Bush while he was in power such as two unpaid for wars, the prescription drug benefit, and tax cuts for the wealthy that Republicans did everything possible to prevent Obama from repealling.

Republicans have done such a thorough job of conning the public about government being a bad thing we see examples like Jim posted over and over and over. Conservatives are ever more detached from reality because their politicians and conservative media tell conservatives whatever they want to hear without regard for the truth as reinforcing the conservative publics prejudices is what sells.

August 24, 2015 11:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, President-Wannabe Trump manages money so well.

That's why he's only had to declare bankruptcy four times in his illustrious tycoon career.

1991 Trump's Taj Mahal in Atlantic City

1992 Trump Plaza Hotel in Atlantic City

2004 Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts

2009 Trump Entertainment Resorts

August 24, 2015 12:04 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "When Obama took office, Congress approved his request to borrow a trillion dollar to rebuild our infrastructure with "shovel ready projects". The country's infrastructure is falling apart. You really think that would have happened under President Trump?"

The stimulus was a resounding success, taking the U.S. out of recession and setting it on the path to its current low unemployment rate. Most of the stimulus money was in terms of tax rebates and other non-infrastructure spending. The infrastructure spending was to come later through the 2011 "American Jobs Act" which economists, including John Mccains election economic advisor said would have created 2 million jobs. And of course Republicans blocked it and subsequently blocked every effort to undertake spending on infrastructure to stimulate the economy. The infrastructure in the U.S. is falling apart because Republicans WANT it that way, you know, government is incompetent, corrupt, unnecessary, and should be cut until its small enough to drown in the bathtub.

August 24, 2015 12:12 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Its not surprising that Trump is the most popular Republican politican with conservatives - his detached from reality rhetoric matches the detached from reality understanding of the world of conservatives in the States.

Trump has no clue how to bring about the promises he's making, he just assures Republican voters that its as simple as pie (but he won't give specifics about how he'd do it) and current politicians haven't done it because they're stupid even though he can't give any specific examples of how they've allegedly erred. He absurdly tells conservatives he'll deport 11 million illegal imigrants and when asked how he'll accomplish this impossible task he says "I'll hire the best managers to figure it out" as though that's an answer and its that simple. He tells republican voters he'll build a wall and make mexico pay for it even though the North American Free Trade agreement makes that illegal and the States is bound by it

Trump is nothing but empty bluster and that's exactly what Republican voters want to hear, intractable problems are trivially easy to resolve, we just snap our fingers and its done and current politicians haven't done it because they're incredibly stupid and incompetent. Republican voters want to hear that everything is simple, easy, and obvious and all it takes to make all their dreams come true is a guy that talks tough and says he can do anything without having any detailed plans for how he'd accomplish that. I almost want Trump to win the 2016 election so his ignorance can be exposed through his profound failure as a politician.

August 24, 2015 12:36 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

One of the major reasons for the conservative policy of giving to the rich and taking from the poor is the psychological makeup of conservatives. They want to believe the world is ultimately a fair place and things don't happen randomly in unfair ways. So, they believe if you're poor its because you're a bad person and/or not working hard enough and if you're rich its because you are a good person and/or a hard worker - not Jeb Bush's recent claim that the economy wouild be better (despite the reality that its doing very well) because Americans don't work hard enough. Of course the reality is that the world is an unfair place, people are often where they are due to random luck, good or bad. Many, if not most, rich people don't work very hard at all as they've inherited their wealth and sit back and reap the rewards of investment income that doesn't require any work at all while many poor people work very hard, often having two jobs to make ends meet.

So, of course Republican politicians have seized on this false conservative psychology and pushed the narrative that the poor are takers, lazy, and leeches and the rich are hardworking, makers whose merit is confirmed by their wealth. And so Republican voters of modest means like Wyatt/bad anonymous vote against their own interests because they want to believe everything happens for a reason and so if you're poor or rich you must deserve it. Its in the psychology of conservatives to loath the poor and idolize the rich despite the fact that people's lot in life is largely determined by the accident of the wealth of the parents they were born to.

August 24, 2015 12:36 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

And Trump is the perfect example of what I'm talking about. He goes on and on about how great and smart he is but the truth is he didn't pull himself up by his bootstraps from an impoverished childhood, he inherited his wealth from Daddy.

August 24, 2015 12:40 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

The comment above should say "Note Jeb Bush's recent claim...."

August 24, 2015 12:42 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said " I'm sure a couple of hundreds years ago people would have delighted that government would one day pay for education for everyone. They would have had no idea that it would become the nightmare it has."

Oh, please. The problems with education are due to the way its funded with half of funding coming from property taxes so schools in poor neighbourhoods are underfunded and schools in rich neighbourhoods get the best of everything. The simple solution is that the government should be evening out the funding so there's the same amount per student spent in every school. But of course once again, republicans oppose doing anything to make the situation better, because government spending is automatically bad, dontcha know. And those kids in poor schools are lazy, evil, takers and don't deserve the same funding schoolchildren in rich neibhbourhoods get - can't punish success!

August 24, 2015 12:55 PM  
Anonymous Priya's runnin' scared!! said...

as usual, apoplectic Priya can't show restraint, or brevity

Trump is winning for the simple reason that the media and big donors and professional political class can't touch him and he is free to make common sense statements

every other candidate, Dem or GOP, has to worry about raising money to pay for their ads

Trump doesn't pay for huge squads of political consultants and pollsters

nor will he likely need to pay for much advertising to bore people saying nothing, like the usual political ad

he gets attention, because, good or bad, he means what he says and doesn't just throw around a bunch of dull rhetoric talking points written by a "professional"

every time a media know-it-all interviews a consultant know-it-all or a big donor blowhard and they say Trump has no chance, his polls go up

the media whines about lack of specificity and he says he needs to maintain flexibility to succeed

and it doesn't matter

because he has grasped one thing no one else has:

if you're manager of a baseball team, you seek what's best for the team

if you're principal of a high school, you do what's best for the school

if you're President of the US, you do what's best for America

until everyone gets on that page, there's no point talking specifics



August 24, 2015 1:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"every time a media know-it-all interviews a consultant know-it-all or a big donor blowhard and they say Trump has no chance, his polls go up"

Uh huh. Yet Hillary, whose poll numbers are falling while Bernie Sanders' are rising, still trounces Trump by double digits.

And we all know how meaningful polls about what might happen over a year from now are.

August 24, 2015 1:59 PM  
Anonymous tourist at the Great Wall of Trump said...

don't know where you get your numbers but Clinton leads Trump by 6 points nationally

few non-propagandists would consider that a "trounce"

currently, she is under fire for not protecting the nation's secrets

imagine if she were President...

and there's so much other baggage

just start going backward and the next in line is that her Foundation was taking donations from foreign governments while she was Secretary of State, negotiating with the same governments

and Biden and Warren met Sunday to figure out what to do

because, unlike you, they realize how dismal Dems' prospects currently are

August 24, 2015 2:29 PM  
Anonymous throwing away the key said...

did you know that the Chinese hacked the personal computers of most Obama admin officials?

did you know that Hillary was an Obama admin official?

did you know that Hillary had top secrets on her personal computer?

did you know that's why the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation of her conduct?

did you know the second in command at the CIA during Bill's admin did the same thing and only escaped prison because Bill pardoned him?

did you know no one has ever been elected President while under criminal investigation by the FBI?

August 24, 2015 4:45 PM  
Anonymous wha?!?!?!?? said...

a certain brilliance has been destroyed, to the detriment of posterity

TTF reminds one of ISIS

August 24, 2015 9:00 PM  
Anonymous lawrence of arabia said...

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/08/24/islamic-state-claims-to-kill-30-for-sodomy-un-meeting-told/21226848/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D43826111

I've got an idea: start a gay foreign legion and go battle against ISIS

August 24, 2015 9:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This guy is in the running for daddy of the year!

August 24, 2015 9:18 PM  
Anonymous Fascinating said...

Pollster’s Legs Wobble After Fawning Donald Trump Focus Group

"My legs are shaking," the Frank Luntz says of the results


"...This 29-person focus group, conducted by Luntz and observed by a group of national press reporters from behind a pane of one-way glass, had gathered to explain the phenomenon of Trump. Why is a billionaire real estate mogul, TV celebrity and oft-accused demagogue who has never held office leading the Republican field with some 22% support in the polls?

After the first Republican debate, Luntz had held a similar focus group of likely Republican voters that found Trump had performed poorly. In trademark fashion, Trump responded by attacking Luntz on Twitter at 3:28 a.m. the following morning. “@FrankLuntz is a low class slob who came to my office looking for consulting work and I had zero interest. Now he picks anti-Trump panels!” Trump wrote.

Luntz’s firm paid each of the participants $100 for the two-and-a-half hour session. (They wore tags with their first names that were mostly illegible to reporters behind the glass.) The group was not a representative sample of the Republican party, or early state voters, as all of them had been selected because they like (or love) Trump and live in Washington or its suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. But they offered a glimpse into the Trump mystique, a lucrative brand whose success has caught the national media, the Republican establishment and experienced pollsters like the veteran Luntz off guard.

The Donald devotees sang a contrapuntal tune, simultaneously a dirge to national decline and an ode to Trump. They believed Washington politicians and the Republican party had repeatedly misled them, and that the country is going down the tubes. They looked for relief in Trump..."

August 25, 2015 8:21 AM  
Anonymous if you see me gettin' younger said...

some self-ordained professor's tongue
too serious to fool
spouted out that liberty
is just equality in school

"equality"
I spoke the word
as if a wedding vow
ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now

http://mosaicmagazine.com/response/2015/08/the-long-rise-of-the-secular-faith/

August 25, 2015 1:23 PM  
Anonymous Another clown climbs in the car said...

Rogersville man running for president, forming the Christian Party

"ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Darrell Trigg is running for president and forming his own political party, the Christian Party.

The first point of his campaign platform is to do away with separation of church and state and make it union of church and state instead. This means, among other things, the official religion of the United States will be Christianity.

He wants to make the Bible a standard required subject in all public schools and universities, for all grades. Every day of school will be started with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Trigg wants to increase the legal drinking age to 25 and ban alcohol on college campuses.

He also says if he becomes president, "homosexuality will not be recognized legally, or in any other manner, by the United States government or any state, city, or county government." This would also include a restriction in the rating system for TV shows to ban any show or movie that contains homosexuality, among other stricter restrictions.

Another point would deal with marriage. Trigg wants to define marriage as a union of one man with one woman and increase the legal age of marriage to 22-years-old. Any couple wishing to get married would have to attend Christian marriage counseling. If a couple were to get pregnant, they also would have to attend Christian parenting classes. There would also be "large fines and jail time" for anyone guilty of abuse or infidelity..."

August 25, 2015 2:35 PM  
Anonymous the tears of a clown said...

Another clown climbs in the car

oh darn, you were just joking

for a minute there I thought maybe Al "if only I'd been born in time to be in the 3 stooges" Franken or Barney "how did I know my BF was running a prostitution ring in my house" Frank were joining Hillary "I looove Snapchat cuz it disappears" Clinton and Bernie "let's give Karl Marx another chance" Sanders and Martin "wonder if they'll notice if I tax rain" O'Malley

but, no need

Hillary's entertaining enough on her own!!

August 25, 2015 9:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And I thought you were going for Al Gore now that the west coast is burning under red flag warning conditions and citizen volunteers as well as the military and wildfire crews from down under are stepping up to put the wildfires out.

Your perpetual obsession with gays, particularly Barney Frank, is so cute.

August 26, 2015 7:46 AM  
Anonymous hockey stick smile said...

obsession? he, more than anyone, was responsible for the 2008 super-recession

you notice it didn't take him long to retire after his role was exposed

but, anyway, I was just trying to think what prominent liberals I could most easily see in a parade with a rubber nose, floppy shoes, and a squirting flower on their lapel

it's the Franken and Frank Show!!

the West has wildfires every year

it's part of the ordinary ecological system

Al "I invented the internet" Gore has been putting out feelers, suggesting himself as a candidate

the response he's been getting: fuggedabouit, ya moron

August 26, 2015 2:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Clinton Email Scandal Falls Apart As State Dept. Says There Was No Policy Against Private Email

"The Republican Hillary Clinton email scandal is falling apart as the State Department confirmed that there was no policy against Clinton using private email.

On CNN’s New Day, State Department spokesman John Kirby said, “We have said in the past, Chris that there was no policy prohibiting the use of a private email account here at the State Department, and that is still a fact. Now, obviously, we have policies in place now that highly discourage that, and you are supposed to use your government account so that there is a constant, permanent record of it, but at the time she was not violating policy….I can tell you that there was no prohibition for her use of this, and we’ve since changed the policy to discourage that greatly, and in fact, the policy is that you have to use your government account for business.”

Kirby added that he didn’t believe that the policy changed while she was Secretary of State, which means that Hillary Clinton was doing nothing wrong when she used private email.

In a recent interview, also on CNN, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) admitted that the number of emails that Republicans claim were classified information in Hillary Clinton’s email account was not accurate due to retroactive classification.

The great email scandal that Republicans hoped would destroy Hillary Clinton’s candidacy is heading down the same path as “IRS scandal,” the “Benghazi scandal,” and President Obama’s birth certificate.

The email scandal is being revealed as another in a long series of election-year stunts. Republicans are set to waste millions of taxpayer dollars on politically driven investigations into Clinton’s use of email, and their efforts are likely to result in nothing.

A CNN poll released last week revealed that voters don’t care about Hillary Clinton’s emails. Clinton still leads every Republican presidential candidate, and Republicans are now confronted with the reality that if Hillary Clinton did not violate any policies regarding the use of email, there is no scandal to investigate.

August 26, 2015 5:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Giant Coal Company Bankruptcy Reveals Secret Ties to Climate Denial, GOP Dark Money Groups

"Alpha Natural Resources, one of the largest coal companies in America, was a player in major congressional election efforts last year — but you won’t find records of their corporate donations on the Federal Election Commission website or in any public record.

You will, however, find signs of the Virginia-based coal giant’s secret political activities buried in a creditor document filed last Thursday. The recent downturn in coal prices and high debts forced the company to seek bankruptcy protection earlier this month.

The filing lists organizations with which Alpha Natural Resources had any kind of financial transaction, including recipients of grants, creditors and contractors. The filing does not list amounts given or owed by Alpha Natural Resources. A spokesperson for the firm did not respond to a request for comment.

Alpha Natural Resources gave money to an array of nonprofit entities that are not required to report donor information. These groups were pivotal in helping Republicans maintain control of the House of Representatives and in electing the new GOP majority in the Senate.

The corporation helped fund the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, a secretive nonprofit group that refused to disclose any donor information during the election last year. The Kentucky Opportunity Coalition was the largest outside campaign entity in the Kentucky senate race, spending over $14 million on television and radio commercials to successfully reelect Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in his campaign against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes.

Alpha Natural Resources also helped finance campaign entities associated with the Koch brothers campaign network, including Americans for Prosperity, Themis Trust (a campaign data company), and Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, a clearinghouse used to fund a range of organizations supporting Republican election efforts. The Institute for Energy Research, an advocacy group founded by Charles Koch that lobbies in support of fossil fuel subsidies and against renewable energy policies, had a financial relationship with Alpha Natural Resources.

The company, with operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and Wyoming, had once been viewed as a coal industry powerhouse. In 2011, Alpha Natural Resources borrowed $7.1 billion to purchase Massey Energy after 29 employees were killed in Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine…

The creditor filing reveals a number of other revelations about Alpha Natural Resource’s undisclosed political operation. For instance, the company gave money to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a trade association that spent over $35 million during the election last year, largely to benefit GOP candidates. It also donated to Americans Allied for Jobs and Security, a group that spent a small amount supporting Republican candidates during the midterm elections.

The company donated to a number of political groups that favor environmental deregulation on the coal industry, including the Ripon Society, a foundation to support moderate Republicans; the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, a conservative think tank in Virginia; and the American Legislative Exchange Council, a nonprofit that works with lobbyists to develop business-friendly template legislation used by state lawmakers. ALEC recently produced template legislation to block states from submitting compliance plans with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, new regulations designed to combat carbon emissions.

The bankruptcy filing lists “Arthur C Brooks C/O AEI 1150 17th St. NW Washington DC,” which appears to be Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank that has campaigned against the EPA’s new rules governing carbon emissions from coal power plants..."

August 26, 2015 9:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Giant Coal Company Bankruptcy Reveals Secret Ties to Climate Denial, GOP Dark Money Groups

"Alpha Natural Resources, one of the largest coal companies in America, was a player in major congressional election efforts last year — but you won’t find records of their corporate donations on the Federal Election Commission website or in any public record.

You will, however, find signs of the Virginia-based coal giant’s secret political activities buried in a creditor document filed last Thursday. The recent downturn in coal prices and high debts forced the company to seek bankruptcy protection earlier this month.

The filing lists organizations with which Alpha Natural Resources had any kind of financial transaction, including recipients of grants, creditors and contractors. The filing does not list amounts given or owed by Alpha Natural Resources. A spokesperson for the firm did not respond to a request for comment.

Alpha Natural Resources gave money to an array of nonprofit entities that are not required to report donor information. These groups were pivotal in helping Republicans maintain control of the House of Representatives and in electing the new GOP majority in the Senate.

The corporation helped fund the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, a secretive nonprofit group that refused to disclose any donor information during the election last year. The Kentucky Opportunity Coalition was the largest outside campaign entity in the Kentucky senate race, spending over $14 million on television and radio commercials to successfully reelect Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in his campaign against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes.

Alpha Natural Resources also helped finance campaign entities associated with the Koch brothers campaign network, including Americans for Prosperity, Themis Trust (a campaign data company), and Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, a clearinghouse used to fund a range of organizations supporting Republican election efforts. The Institute for Energy Research, an advocacy group founded by Charles Koch that lobbies in support of fossil fuel subsidies and against renewable energy policies, had a financial relationship with Alpha Natural Resources.

The company, with operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and Wyoming, had once been viewed as a coal industry powerhouse. In 2011, Alpha Natural Resources borrowed $7.1 billion to purchase Massey Energy after 29 employees were killed in Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine…




August 26, 2015 9:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

…"The creditor filing reveals a number of other revelations about Alpha Natural Resource’s undisclosed political operation. For instance, the company gave money to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a trade association that spent over $35 million during the election last year, largely to benefit GOP candidates. It also donated to Americans Allied for Jobs and Security, a group that spent a small amount supporting Republican candidates during the midterm elections.

The company donated to a number of political groups that favor environmental deregulation on the coal industry, including the Ripon Society, a foundation to support moderate Republicans; the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, a conservative think tank in Virginia; and the American Legislative Exchange Council, a nonprofit that works with lobbyists to develop business-friendly template legislation used by state lawmakers. ALEC recently produced template legislation to block states from submitting compliance plans with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, new regulations designed to combat carbon emissions.

The bankruptcy filing lists “Arthur C Brooks C/O AEI 1150 17th St. NW Washington DC,” which appears to be Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank that has campaigned against the EPA’s new rules governing carbon emissions from coal power plants.

Alpha Natural Resources backed the Heartland Institute, an Illinois-based think tank that aggressively works to counter the belief in climate change. The Heartland Institute, which organizes an annual gathering of climate change deniers, gained notoriety in 2012 for sponsoring billboards comparing those who believe in climate change to the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and cult leader Charles Manson.

Bankruptcy filings are providing a rare window into the subterranean world of money in politics. Earlier this year, The Intercept used a bankruptcy filing to reveal secret donations to dark money campaign entities and think tanks made by Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit college with a high rate of student defaults. Many of the beneficiaries of Corinthian Colleges’ secret money helped the school beat back regulations governing the $1.4 billion per year in federally backed student loans the company received.

Just days after his reelection victory, made possible with the support of the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, Sen. McConnell announced that his top priority would be to rein in the EPA’s power to regulate coal companies. Alpha Natural Resources considered the EPA rules a top priority as well."

August 26, 2015 9:33 PM  
Anonymous truthfully said...

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/people-think-liar-dishonest-when-they-think-of-clinton-poll/article/2570914

latest poll: Hillary more dishonest than Trump

August 27, 2015 3:46 PM  
Anonymous The first part of that article above posted at 9:33 PM August 26, 2015 said...

Giant Coal Company Bankruptcy Reveals Secret Ties to Climate Denial, GOP Dark Money Groups

"Alpha Natural Resources, one of the largest coal companies in America, was a player in major congressional election efforts last year — but you won’t find records of their corporate donations on the Federal Election Commission website or in any public record.

You will, however, find signs of the Virginia-based coal giant’s secret political activities buried in a creditor document filed last Thursday. The recent downturn in coal prices and high debts forced the company to seek bankruptcy protection earlier this month.

The filing lists organizations with which Alpha Natural Resources had any kind of financial transaction, including recipients of grants, creditors and contractors. The filing does not list amounts given or owed by Alpha Natural Resources. A spokesperson for the firm did not respond to a request for comment.

Alpha Natural Resources gave money to an array of nonprofit entities that are not required to report donor information. These groups were pivotal in helping Republicans maintain control of the House of Representatives and in electing the new GOP majority in the Senate.

The corporation helped fund the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, a secretive nonprofit group that refused to disclose any donor information during the election last year. The Kentucky Opportunity Coalition was the largest outside campaign entity in the Kentucky senate race, spending over $14 million on television and radio commercials to successfully reelect Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in his campaign against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes.

Alpha Natural Resources also helped finance campaign entities associated with the Koch brothers campaign network, including Americans for Prosperity, Themis Trust (a campaign data company), and Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, a clearinghouse used to fund a range of organizations supporting Republican election efforts. The Institute for Energy Research, an advocacy group founded by Charles Koch that lobbies in support of fossil fuel subsidies and against renewable energy policies, had a financial relationship with Alpha Natural Resources.

The company, with operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and Wyoming, had once been viewed as a coal industry powerhouse. In 2011, Alpha Natural Resources borrowed $7.1 billion to purchase Massey Energy after 29 employees were killed in Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine.…"


August 27, 2015 3:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

…According to the poll, 61 percent of voters say Clinton is not trustworthy, while 54 percent of voters say the same of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump…

The poll surveyed 1,563 voters between August 20-25 and has margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percent."


August 27, 2015 4:04 PM  
Anonymous summer of irony said...

I'm amazed that liberals aren't overjoyed about Trump

he's the most liberal Republican frontrunner in decades

exactly the type of Republican you always say you wish we provide an alternative

he's a throwback to the Nixon-Rockefeller model

he's basically winning because Americans see an opportunity to repudiate the media, big donors, and professional political class that think they have a veto power over our government

August 27, 2015 4:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Donald Trump has received an endorsement from groups in which he wants no connection -- racists and Neo-Nazis.
Last week, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke praised The Donald, calling him the best of all the GOP candidates. However, Trump isn't looking for his endorsement.

"I don't need his endorsement," Trump told Bloomberg TV. "I certainly wouldn't want his endorsement. I don't need anybody's endorsement."

Duke clarified on his personal website that he has not officially endorsed Trump, instead, said that he supports his stance on immigration. And Duke isn't the only white supremacist to support Trump's views. According to Buzzfeed, at least eight top figures involved in the white nationalist movement favor Trump for president because of his stance on immigration.

Jared Taylor, who runs the bigoted publication American Renaissance, calls Donald Trump the nation's last chance.

"If Mr. Trump loses, this could be the last chance whites have to vote for a president who could actually do something useful for them and for their country," wrote Taylor. By "useful," he means preventing whites from becoming the minority.

Trump may not be looking for their endorsement, but he definitely seems to have it.

August 27, 2015 5:41 PM  
Anonymous tossed salads and scrambled eggs said...

some guy that used to head the KKK in Louisiana hasn't endorsed Trump but likes his proposals on immigration

big deal

I'm sure he also endorses that internet that Al Gore invented

probably drinks coffee at Starbucks too

Dems are so sad

the only people they can find to seek their Presidential nomination are a bunch of septuagenarians with tired old ideas

so, they have to play the association game

how degrees of separation is Duke from Kevin Bacon

it becoming clear that Hillary might not even beat a reality show candidate

and Dems are scrambling to find a replacement

August 27, 2015 9:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aug. 26 is the 238th day of the year. And with the fatal shooting in Virginia today — in which a gunman shot himself after killing two reporters and wounding one more person — plus the shooting of four during a Minneapolis home invasion, the number of mass shooting incidents has risen to 247 for the year.

August 27, 2015 9:58 PM  
Anonymous me and my arrow said...

a drop in the bucket compared to the number of unborn children murdered by abortion "clinics" this year

also, a drop in the bucket compared to the number of people killed by urban youth in the nation's ghettos

what's your point?

August 28, 2015 6:52 AM  
Anonymous volunteers of America, gotta revolution said...

http://www.wsj.com/articles/america-is-so-in-play-1440715262

someone who gets it

a few important points:

1. legal immigrants don't identify themselves with illegal immigrants and aren't offended by Trump; they are loyal to the country that welcomed them

2. people are rebelling against an elite class who they think they control the country; every time a career politician or political pundit denounces Trump, it reinforces Trump as the vehicle to express their disgust; the elites don't know what they're talking about and reinforce a broken system; elites know this, agree with it deep down, and are terrified

3. untold numbers across the country, Dems and Independents, are switching their registration to Republican to join the Trump effort to overturn our broken system

August 28, 2015 9:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"people are rebelling against an elite class who they think they control the country; every time a career politician or political pundit denounces Trump, it reinforces Trump as the vehicle to express their disgust; the elites don't know what they're talking about"

LMAO

"Whenever his intellectual credibility is questioned or mocked, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is quick to remind everyone where he attended college.

“I went to the Wharton School of Finance,” he said multiple times in a July 11 speech in Phoenix, Ariz. “I’m, like, a really smart person.”

Trump transferred into Wharton’s undergraduate program — then known as the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce — after spending two years at Fordham University in New York. He graduated in 1968 and has embraced the school’s card-carrying prestige ever since.

Despite Trump’s repeated mention of Wharton, his own classmates hardly remember him, and he even describes the school’s high-flung reputation as overwrought in his 1986 book, “Trump: The Art of the Deal.”

“In my opinion, that [Wharton] degree doesn’t prove very much, but a lot of people I do business with take it very seriously, and it’s considered very prestigious,” Trump wrote…."


Prestigious, indeed! Some might even say "elite!"

August 28, 2015 11:17 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Surprise! Tax Cuts Don’t Raise Revenue

Keith Hall, an economist who was one of George W. Bush’s chief economic advisers, has been named the new head of the Congressional Budget Office, a bipartisan agency that provides relatively objective information for Congress to help them evaluate the impact of legislation under consideration. And at his very first news conference in that position, he threw cold water on pretty much the only economic plan the Republicans ever have.

"The new Republican-appointed director of the Congressional Budget Office delivered some bad news on Tuesday to the party’s “Reaganomics” devotees: Tax cuts don’t pay for themselves through turbocharged economic growth.

Keith Hall, who served as an economic adviser to former President George W. Bush, made the pronouncement at his first news conference after the CBO reduced its 2015 budget deficit forecast by $60 billion.“

No, the evidence is that tax cuts do not pay for themselves,” Hall said in response to a reporter’s question. “And our models that we’re doing, our macroeconomic effects, show that.”."

This is the one and only plan we ever hear from Republicans: Cut taxes, which will unleash economic growth so great that tax revenues will go up because even though the rates are lower, they’ll be taken on a much larger economic pie. This has always been nonsense. One might even call it laffable (if you get that joke, congratulations).

Three years ago, the Congressional Research Service did a study that looked at tax rates and economic growth since WW2. It found no correlation at all between lower taxes and higher growth. It said “changes over the past 65 years in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax rate do not appear correlated with economic growth. The reduction in the top statutory tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie.”

Despite all this evidence, it remains the only economic plan the Republicans ever have. And it doesn’t work. At all.

August 28, 2015 1:06 PM  
Anonymous the economic big bang said...

looks like Priya supports Donald Trump, the only Republican candidate who has refused to sign a "no new tax" pledge

he favors increased taxes on the wealthy

just one of those things Priya has in common with the KKK

a study on taxes by Congress is like a study on the dangers of smoking by an association of tobacco growers

go back to the early sixties

JFK reduced capital gains taxes and....BOOM!!!

August 28, 2015 1:27 PM  
Anonymous energy times matter time the speed of light squared said...

some black homosexual in Roanoke killed a couple of white straights this week and posted a video of the crime on the internet

doesn't seem to be getting much attention

whadda ya think, TTFers?

did there lives matter?

August 28, 2015 1:36 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Giggle!

Left takes a strong lead in Canada elections:

"Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's leftist New Democrats took a giant leap ahead of rivals in an election campaign in which the Tories are seeking a fourth mandate since 2006, according to the latest poll Thursday.

Thomas Mulcair's New Democrats have the support of 40 percent of Canadians surveyed, enough to win a majority government, according to the Forum Research poll.

Backing for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives, meanwhile, has plummeted to 23 percent, while the Liberals led by Justin Trudeau, the son of late prime minister Pierre Trudeau, moved up to second spot with 30 percent support.

Earlier polling had the three parties neck and neck coming out of the gate."

So, Canadians are finally going to get the left leaning government they've always preferred. Vote splitting previously allowed the lying Conservatives to win government even though 2/3 of Canadians voted for left leaning parties. Now with 77% of Canadians preferring left leaning parties the Conservative reign of terror will soon be over.

August 28, 2015 1:53 PM  
Anonymous giggle goose said...

well, they'll have an ally in Donald Trump

in the GOP debate a couple of weeks ago, he said Canada's health system is "beautiful"

August 28, 2015 2:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"did there (sic) lives matter?"

Their lives mattered to a lot of people.

On “The Kelly File” Wednesday night, Megyn Kelly spoke to murdered journalist Alison Parker’s boyfriend, as well as her father, about her murder at the hands of a disgruntled former co-worker.

Kelly asked Andy Parker and Chris Hurst if they wanted to respond to allegations made by Vester Flanagan II before he committed suicide that he attacked Parker and Adam Ward because they had made racist statements about him. Parker’s father begged off, saying he’d avoided media coverage about Flanagan, but Hurst stated in no uncertain terms that nothing said or written by someone who took pleasure in premeditating the murder of two people should be taken seriously.

It’s wrong to think he was “issuing lucid, rational thoughts in what [the media] is identifying as a manifesto” given the manner he acted upon them, Hurst said. “I don’t think you can take seriously anything said in any of his writings,” he added.

“He was a crazy man who got a gun,” Andy Parker said. “That’s part two of where we’re going.”

Kelly ventured that there had been speculation that Ward pointed his camera in the direction of his killer as he died, so that there’d be evidence of who killed him, but Parker and Hurst didn’t want to discuss that. Parker said that “I was told this was going to be about Alison’s life, I had reservations coming here, and if it were any other situation, I wouldn’t have. But she was a journalist first, a TV personality second, and she would’ve wanted me to come here and state the case.”

“We even joked about how she was the perfect Fox News girl,” he said. “She was pretty, she was blonde, and she was smart.”

Kelly ceded the floor to Parker and Hurst at the interview’s conclusion, and Parker used the opportunity to reiterate that “we’ve got to do something about crazy people getting guns. The problem you guys have, and I know this is the news business, but this isn’t going to be a story next week. But you mark my words, my mission in life — and I talked to the governor today — I’m going to do something to get gun legislation, to shame people, to shame legislators into doing something to make sure that crazy people don’t get guns.”

Also:

President Barack Obama expressed his sadness Wednesday over the shooting of two television journalists during a live broadcast.

"It breaks my heart every time you read or hear about these kinds of incidents," Obama told WPVI's Monica Malpass during an interview at the White House.

"What we know is that the number of people who die from gun-related incidents around this country dwarfs any deaths that happen through terrorism," Obama added.

Reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, of Roanoke-based news station WDBJ in Virginia were shot and killed Wednesday morning by a former WDBJ reporter. Suspect Vester Lee Flanagan later died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest renewed the Obama administration's call for more common sense gun control reforms during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, on the right:

Dinesh D’Souza jokes about the deaths of Alison Parker and Adam Ward on Twitter posting "Let's hope that Obama expresses sympathy for the white victims of #VirginiaShooting & not the gay black shooter."

August 28, 2015 4:52 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Who controls our parliament?
Harperman, Harperman
Who squashes all dissent?
Harperman, Harperman
The Duffy handout incident
No respect for the environment
Harperman,
it’s time for you to go

Who’s the king of secrecy?
Who has slashed the CBC?
No money for PTSD
Accuses good Judge Beverley

CHORUS

Who’s the rogue in prorogue?
Whose party line must be toed?
Won’t buy into climate change
Until it’s sold on the stock exchange

Whose smarmy smile is a thin veneer?
Who preaches the politics of fear?
Ignores the plight of native folks
Missing women, it’s no joke

CHORUS

Who’s dropping payload in Iraq?
Who passed the Unfair Elections Act?
Who’s a two-bit controlling freak
Makes us feel the future’s bleak?

Who muzzles the poor scientist?
Calls troubled people “terrorists”?
Who wants the courts to just say yes?
Suppresses freedom of the press?

CHORUS

Who turns watchdogs into lapdogs?
Gives his friends the best fat cat jobs?
Bigger prisons, “tough on crime”
Gerrymanders election lines

Who’s pulling all the Tory strings?
Who stands to the right of the right wing?
Ignores the cause of everything?
But to ideology will cling

Who reveres Uncle Sam?
Says our future lies in oil sands?
Dirty oil, dirty plans
Dirty tricks, dirty hands

Chorus:

We want you gone (gone, gone)
You and your pawn (pawn, pawns)
No more con (con, cons)
Time to move on (on, on)
Get out of town (town, town )
Don’t want you round (round, round)
Harperman, it’s time for you to go

You can drive your omnibus to Kokamo
And take that useless caucus when you go
We’ll scratch you from the long form census poll
Harperman, it’s time for you to go

Harperman, where ya gonna run to? x3
On Election Day

August 28, 2015 11:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

America's most high-profile Christian conservatives often use their social media platforms and media prominence to extol the virtues of chastity -- only to get caught up in sex scandals.

The most recent example comes by way of Josh Duggar, one of the oldest kids from the hit reality TV show 19 Kids and Counting. Coming on the heels of a revelation last month that Duggar molested five young girls (including his own sisters), Americans have now learned that the outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage, abortion rights, and sex education was cheating on his wife with an account on the notorious dating site for cheaters, Ashley Madison….

Duggar is certainly a hypocrite, but it's arguable whether or not he's the biggest hypocrite of them all -- because over the past few decades, plenty of other religious conservatives could give him a run for his money at that title.

A short list might include names such as Jason Dore, executive director of the Louisiana Republican Party, whose information also appeared in the Ashley Madison dump. It would also include Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House and 2012 Republican presidential candidate who cheated on two of his wives (including when he was calling for Bill Clinton's impeachment over the scandal involving Monica Lewinsky). There's also Evangelical pastor Ted Haggard, who despite his anti-gay rhetoric admitted to having an affair with another man. And former Sen. John Ensign of Nevada was revealed to have had an affair with the wife of a former staffer.

The list goes on, and on, and on. During the same month that he voted against an anti-discrimination bill, North Dakota legislator Randy Boehning sent an unsolicited picture of his genitals to a 21-year-old on a gay dating site. Former Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina had his status as a conservative darling was destroyed when he vanished for several days to have an affair with an Argentinian woman.

Then-Alabama Attorney General Troy King attempted to outlaw sex toys and opposed gay rights, before being caught by his wife having sex with a male college student. Another Southern conservative, Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, had a reputation for promoting "old-fashioned" values when news surfaced his frequent engagement with the D.C. Madam. And who could forget former Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, another anti-gay rights conservative, who was caught soliciting sex from a male undercover cop in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport bathroom.

Why does this keep happening?

August 29, 2015 9:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Continued…

When it comes to conservatives being caught up in sex scandals, the reason could be traced to what Sigmund Freud called the "reaction formation." The concept, as Freud coined it, signifies a hostile fight against outward symbols of inward emotions that are being stifled -- in other words, self-repression. As it relates to homophobic leaders cheating on their wives with other men, a study from a 2012 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology make shed some light.

The researchers discovered that individuals who identified as "highly straight" but had latent impulses for sex with other men were far more likely to favor anti-gay policies. In addition, those men were also more likely to call for stricter punishments against gay people who commit petty crimes. "Not all those who campaign against gay men and lesbians secretly feel same-sex attractions," explained Dr. Richard M. Ryan to The New York Times. "But at least some who oppose homosexuality are likely to be individuals struggling against parts of themselves, having themselves been victims of oppression and lack of acceptance."

The explanation is pretty similar when talking about heterosexual sex scandals, such as the one involving Duggar. One study found that residents of highly religious and politically conservative states spent more money on Internet pornography than their less religious and conservative counterparts. And the states which banned gay marriage had 11 percent more porn subscribers. There is a solidly-established statistical correlation between social conservatism and higher rates of abortion, teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases -- and nations that have more liberal views on sexuality generally have fewer sex-related health problems than countries that are more repressive.

All of this is because, as Dr. Christopher Ryan explained at Psychology Today:

"If expression of sexuality is thwarted, the human psyche tends to grow twisted into grotesque, enraged perversions of desire. Unfortunately, the distorted rage resulting from sexual repression rarely takes the form of rebellion against the people and institutions behind the repression... Instead, the rage is generally directed at helpless victims who are sacrificed to the sick gods of guilt, shame, and ignorant pride…."

More at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-daily-dot/josh-duggar-hypocrisy_b_8034426.html?ir=Entertainment

August 29, 2015 9:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

he same reason it keeps happening to liberals and Democrats and Nazis and Communists

the universal human condition is sinfulness

think Barney Frank, Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, John Edward

just watched a Chris Rock special on TV recently

"what did bill Clinton do that was so bad. lie about a blow job so his wife wouldn't know? what's wrong with that?"

big laughs from the crowd

in America, most people think if you do something sexually immoral, it's best to lie about it

except Donald Trump

he's mot embarrassed at all

you should vote for him

he's the quintessential liberal Republican

in other words, a moderate Democrat

he's for big government programs to take care of us all

August 29, 2015 10:18 AM  
Anonymous how many TTFers used Ashley Madison? said...

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-takes-aim-huma-abedin-perv-anthony-weiner-n418116

last night, Donald Trump brought up the biggest Dem hypocrite sleazeball of all: Anthony Weiner

sends picture of his naked penis to girls across the nation

he used to be famous for sarcastic remarks about how sleazy Republicans are

after he was discovered, he promised never to do it again and ran to get back his old Congressional seat

then, did it again in the middle of the campaign

he's probably doing it now

his wife, Hillary's closest aide, is now in the middle of the e-mail scandal

has access to the nation's top secrets and goes home every night to sleep with this sleazeball

the nation's secrets accessible to a guy with no self-control

YIKES!!

he and Bill Clinton probably get together all the time and share sleazy war stories

why does this keep happening with Democrats?



August 29, 2015 10:36 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

"The researchers discovered that individuals who identified as "highly straight" but had latent impulses for sex with other men were far more likely to favor anti-gay policies. In addition, those men were also more likely to call for stricter punishments against gay people...".

Oh, ain't it the truth! Been there myself, went through an anti-gay period when I was trying to suppress my own attractions to men.

Research also shows 80% of self-described homophobes are turned on by watching gay sex. Not all anti-gay people are secretly suppressing same sex desires but it appears most of them are and the more vigorous the anti-gayness the more desperate the person is to suppress their same sex desires - Wyatt/bad anonymous is the epitome of that.

August 29, 2015 12:09 PM  
Anonymous Priya Lied: wasn't that a Steely Dan album? said...

in social science, the golden rule is: what you get is vastly affected by what you're looking for

real research shows that most people, at one time or another, have been so angry they wanted to kill someone

let's stop being hypocrites and legalize murder

also, let's teach kids in school that it's alright

you're on the right track, babies, you were born that way

of course, murder against unborn children is fine

it's only illegal if done in anger at voting adults

another sleaze ball Dem:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-omalley-furniture-20150828-story.html

of course, the Clintons did that too

stole the White House china on the way out

they were broke at the time, owing so much money to lawyers in connection with Bill's hypopcritical sleazy behavior

"In addition, those men were also more likely to call for stricter punishments against gay people"

look, Priya lied again

no prominent Republicans favor punishing homosexuality

August 29, 2015 1:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Since the Ashley Madison scandal broke, I have noticed a distinct lack of condemnation from rightwing christians.

Where are all the youtube hate videos against the subscribers practicing adultery?

Where are the droves of protestors picketing AshleyMadison.com like Planned Parenthood?

It's pretty clear where Jesus stands with cheating on your spouse. In case you missed the Commandment of "Thou shalt not covet they neighbor's wife", Jesus laid it out:

In Mathew 5:27-30 he said if you even look at another woman with desire, then cut out your eye because it's better to "lose one of your members than to have your whole body go to hell".

Lust leads to Cheat leads to Hell. Pretty straightforward. There were other things He directly condemned, like divorce. Yet He was most clear on His biggest pet peeve: excess wealth.

Yet those are three things that today's rightwing Christian doesn't care about.

Massive greed? That's called "prosperity gospel" now. The parable of Lazarus? They root for the rich guy in hell.

Divorce? Adultery? Child Molestation? whoopsey-daisies. No big whoop.

But gays and abortions? That's where they burst arteries! Two issues Jesus said nothing about. Both of those things existed during His time. If they are the epitome of evil, you'd think they'd at least warrant a mention. But nothing..."


Interesting headlines:

ASHLEY MADISON LEAK: Up To 400 Church Leaders Could Resign After Being Implicated In Leak

Franklin Graham Tells Ashley Madison Users That God Will Forgive Them of Sins, 'Cleanse Them From All Unrighteousness'

The Ashley Madison Hack Is a Peephole Into “Traditional” Christian Marriage

‘My Pastor Is on the Ashley Madison List.’

August 29, 2015 1:14 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Canada's Conservative Party Adopts Republican Dirty Play Book.
Stephen Harper, Serial Abuser of Power: The Evidence Compiled


Stephen Harper and his Conservatives have racked up dozens of serious abuses of power since forming government in 2006. From scams to smears, monkey-wrenching opponents to intimidating public servants like an Orwellian gorilla, some offences are criminal, others just offend human decency. See here for article links proving this is all true.

SECTION I. ABUSING PARLIAMENT: SABOTAGE, SCANDALS, CORRUPTION AND CONTEMPT

This section includes examples of willful misgoverning by the PM and his team, 31 times they have lied, flouted rules and stymied democracy to achieve political and ideological ends.

PMO Tied to Senate Hush Money Scandal

An RCMP affidavit reported widespread involvement by PMO staffers in a secret payment to Senator Mike Duffy to try and make a political problem go away. The Senate expenses scandal brought on allegations of a cover-up, a breach of the public trust, and a whitewashing of a Senate report. The PMO was found to have hand in the altering of a damning Deloitte audit.

Harper Found in Contempt of Parliament

For refusing to disclose information on the costing of programs to Parliament, which Parliament was entitled to receive, the Harper government became the first in Canadian history to be found in contempt of Parliament.

Against Court Order, Refusal to Share Budget Info

Even though it lost a court case and was ordered to comply, the Harper government nevertheless refused to share 170 times reasons and impacts for cuts with Canada's independent budget watchdog, mocking Parliament's right to control the public purse.

August 29, 2015 1:59 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Conservative Cabinet Staffers Granted Immunity from Testimony

A PMO edict absolved political staffers from ever having to testify before parliamentary committees.

Repeated Duplicity on Costing of F-35 Fighter Jets

An auditor general's report revealed serial deceptive practices used by the Conservatives in misleading the public and Parliament on the projected cost of the fighter jets.

Harper Minister Lies, Blames Statistics Canada for Killing Long Form Census

Under fire for Conservatives killing the long form census, Industry Minister Tony Clement falsely stated that StatsCan backed the idea and assured the voluntary substitute would yield valid statistical data. Neither was true, outraged StatsCan sources confirmed.

Conservative MP Admits He Lied to Parliament

As opposition members claimed the Harper government was out to rig election rules in its favour, Conservative MP Brad Butt rose in the House of Commons to say why the bill was needed -- all the voter fraud he had personally witnessed. Weeks later he rose again to say his statements were false. Delivering his strained apology, he failed to explain why he lied in the first place.

Conservative House Leader Admits to Mockery of Question Period

Criticized far and wide for farcical answers in question period, Paul Calandra, parliamentary secretary to Harper, made a tearful apology for abuse of the democratic process.

Harper Maligns the Supreme Court Chief Justice

The Prime Minister took the unprecedented step of alleging inappropriate conduct by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. Facts undermined the credibility of the PM's position.

Conservatives Engage in Abuse of Process with Omnibus Bills

Harper's party pushed legislation through Parliament via omnibus bills, the scale of which Parliament had never seen. Such bills are widely condemned as an abuse of the democratic process, because they blend and bury so many controversial laws within one dense package. Harper himself once railed against them, and his born again love for them made his own MPs queasy. Referencing such bills, former auditor general Sheila Fraser said that "Parliament has become so undermined that it is almost unable to do the job that people expect of it."

August 29, 2015 2:00 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Harperites Deliberately Sabotage, Stymie Committee System

Conservatives used tactics such as barring witnesses, closure, time limitations, and in camera sessions to an extent rarely, if ever, witnessed in Canada. In their early days in power, top Conservatives prepared a handbook instructing committee chairpersons how to obstruct proceedings.

Harper's Own MPs Protest Muzzling

In a caucus known for his tight discipline, in 2014 some members finally rose up to contest being censored at question period by the Prime Minister's Office. Former Conservative backbencher Brent Rathgeber turned independent and published a book, Irresponsible Government, decrying anti-democratic practices.

Conservative Bill Rewrites History to Protect Mounties from Potential Criminal Charges

To protect the RCMP, the government retroactively made an old bill come into force before it was passed by Parliament.

Access to Information System Impeded

Many new roadblocks have been put up by the Harper Conservatives. Former Information Commissioner Robert Marleau concluded that having obtained absolute power, the prime minister "has absolutely abused that power to the maximum."

The Silencing of the Public Service

The PMO took an unprecedented step in instituting a system wherein the bureaucracy has all its communications vetted by the political nerve centre. The policy contribution role of the public service is significantly reduced. Complaints from insiders allege that the Privy Council office has become increasingly politicized.

Loyalty Oaths Imposed on Public Servants

Archivists and librarians were made to swear strict oaths of allegiance and were hit with restrictions on freedom of speech that editorialists of the right and left described as chilling.

August 29, 2015 2:01 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Conservatives Block Accreditation for Opposition MPs

In another example of partisanship taken to new heights, the PMO blocked opposition members from being accredited for international environment conferences and from visiting military bases.

Tactic Borrowed from North Korea's Dear Leader

Ostensibly neutral public servants were used as stooges, falsely posing as new citizens in a staged Citizenship Renewal public relations exercise by the Immigration Department. Media critics had a field day comparing the charade to practices undertaken by North Korean dictators.

Aquatic Science Libraries Decimated

The Harper government's downsizing of federal libraries included sudden closing of seven world famous Department of Fisheries and Oceans archives. A leaked memo revealed the destruction and consolidation would save less than half a million dollars. Scientist patrons of the libraries, who witnessed chaotic chucking of rare literature, called it a "book burning" with no logical purpose other than to restrict environmental information. The Harper government claimed vital works would be digitally preserved, but never provided a plan or cost for doing so, nor any proof it had happened. No scientists interviewed by The Tyee believed digitizing would or could replace what was lost.

UN Blasts Canada's Treatment of Immigrants

Changes made to the Canada's immigration and refugee system under Harper were investigated by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, whose report blasted how thousands of migrants are detained indefinitely without due process, many for over a year or more, as well as poor mental health support for those incarcerated.

Harper Government Denies Khadr Basic Rights

Defying court rulings, the Conservative government refused to accord Omar Khadr basic rights such as access to media. Editorialists of right and left persuasion described the move as unbefitting a democratic government.

Undue Interference with Independent Agencies

Command and control system was extended to meddling in bodies like National Energy Board and CRTC whose arms-length autonomy is significantly reduced. A special target was the Parliamentary Budget Office, which was hit with condemnations and budget cuts for its critical reports.

August 29, 2015 2:01 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Billions Borrowed without Parliament's Permission

The auditor general sounded alarms about the "prodigious" growth and size of federal borrowing. Those billions in "non-budgetary" spending used to get Parliament's oversight, but no more. The finance minister can borrow what he wants without Parliament's permission. Why? A loophole buried in a 2007 Harper omnibus bill.

Lapdogs Appointed as Watchdogs

The most controversial was the case of former Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet. Her office reviewed more than 200 whistleblowing cases. Disciplinary action followed on none of them. Ouimet's own angry staffers blew the whistle on their boss. The auditor general found Ouimet intimidated her employees, took "retaliatory action" against them and may have breached their privacy, all part of the Harper appointee's "gross mismanagement." Ouimet was paid more than $500,000 to leave her post.

SECTION II: 'HARPER BRAND' ABUSES: LIES, SPIES, AND THIS PORK SMELLS REALLY BAD

This election began the minute the last one ended. Since his first day as PM, Stephen Harper has reinforced his party's 'brand' by rewarding cronies, slapping the Conservative logo on government cheques, perfecting the no questions photo-op, instructing bureaucrats to start calling Canada's government "the Harper Government." The flip side has been relentless monitoring, muzzling and attacks on anyone who might tarnish the image. Here are 22 instances of power abused to build the Harper brand.

The 'Harper Government' Labelling Deception

Public servants were told to use "Harper Government" instead of "Government of Canada" in publicity releases. The Conservatives denied it was happening -- until internal memos revealed by the Canadian Press revealed the denial to be without basis.

August 29, 2015 2:02 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Conservatives Place Party Logos on Government of Canada Cheques

Once "caught red-handed," they backed off. The federal ethics commissioner, adopting the exasperated tone of an adult lecturing a child, noted: "Public spending announcements are government activities, not partisan political activities, and it is not appropriate to brand them with partisan or personal identifiers."

Record Amounts of Partisan Political Advertising, on the Public Purse

Several media reports told how the Conservatives used taxpayer money for partisan political advertising in record quantity, costing the public treasury $750 million since Harper became PM. In one instance, the Tories spent lavishly on ads for the promotion of a jobs grant program that had yet to be made public or presented to parliament or the provinces. Even more nakedly partisan, a mailed blast, charged to the taxpayers, targeting Justin Trudeau.

Conservatives Stack Their Own Ridings with Infrastructure Funds

In a display of brazen pork barreling, the Conservatives arranged for no less than 83 percent of infrastructure fund projects go to Conservative ridings.

Undermining Statistics Canada, Killing Data

Against pleas from everyone who needs and uses data from the long form census, the Harper government scrapped it, prompting the Statistics Canada chief to resign in protest.

Government Muzzles Science Community

Top scientists came under such heavy monitoring by the Conservatives that they staged "Death of Evidence" protests for being denied freedom of speech. The Conservatives sent out chaperones or "media minders" to track Environment Canada scientists and report on them.

August 29, 2015 2:02 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Like Never Before, Limits Placed on Media Access

Journalists have been hard-pressed to recall another time when controls put on them were so tight. At the Conservatives' 2013 Calgary convention, reporters wrote of being harassed and penned in at every turn by the PMO's command and control system. In his book Killing The Messenger, journalist Mark Bourrie charts the many examples of new limits on freedom of speech introduced in the Harper era.

Harper Minister Sucker Punches Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Budget

After the 2011 federal election Heritage Minister James Moore assured Conservatives would "maintain or increase support for the CBC. That is our platform and we have said that before and we will commit to that." The next year, Harper's Cons delivered the biggest government cut to CBC since the mid-1990s, much deeper in proportion than overall trims to federal programs, defying public sentiment.

Suppression of Research

In the gun registration debate, incriminating research and documents such as a Firearms Report were deliberately withheld from the public. While ramping up their prison building, Conservatives suppressed related research and studies contradicting their political priorities.

The Vic Toews Porno Smear

In a vivid example of the browbeating of opponents, the minister of public safety said anyone who opposed federal plans to make electronic surveillance of Canadians easier for authorities was siding with child pornographers.

Harper's Fallen Soldiers Blackout

Emulating George W. Bush's optics tactics, Stephen Harper banned media coverage of fallen soldiers' caskets returning from Afghanistan. He also refused to lower the flag half-mast. Soldiers' family members expressed confusion and anger at the perceived show of disrespect.

August 29, 2015 2:03 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Protesters Put under Blanket Surveillance

According to a leaked memo, as part of its command and control approach, the Conservatives have approved a system wherein all advocates, protesters and demonstrations can be monitored by authorities. The Government Operations Centre has requested federal departments to assist it in compiling a comprehensive inventory of protesters. Security specialists have called it a breach of Canadians' Charter of Rights. Conservatives have moved to give CSIS even more powers than the spy agency wants.

Revenue Canada Loosed to Attack Charities

Not all charities, just the ones that don't seem adequately aligned with the Harper brand. Enough to include many environmental, aid, human rights and free speech charities that banded together to push back against what looks like a politically motivated witch hunt.

Conservatives Use Unheard of Tactic to Force through Anti-Union Bill

Conservative senators went to the unprecedented extent of overruling their own Speaker. What could be so important to break Senate rules? A bill pushed by Harper that is almost certainly unconstitutional for its privacy invading measures forced onto unions, unlike other groups. Latest in a steady stream of Conservative attacks on organized labour in Canada.

SECTION III: ELECTION ABUSES: SCAMS, SLIMES, STINGS AND CROOKED SPENDING

Stephen Harper's Conservatives have made federal elections a gladiators' arena where anything goes -- unless and until you are caught, that is. Here are 17 times his team violated election laws or ethics.

Conservative Convicted on Robocalls Scam

Tory operative Michael Sona was given jail time for his role in the robocalls scam that sent voters to the wrong polling stations. The judge indicated more than one person was likely involved. In another court judgment in a case brought by the Council of Canadians, the ruling said the robocalls operation was widespread, not just limited to the Guelph riding. Donald Segretti who did dirty tricks for the Nixon White House told a Canadian reporter his skullduggery didn't go so low as to run schemes sending voters to the wrong polling stations.

August 29, 2015 2:04 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Harper's Ex-Parliamentary Secretary Jailed for Breaking Election Law

Dean Del Maestro was one of Harper's favourites. As his parliamentary secretary, the PM frequently used him as an attack dog to allege misdeeds by opposition members. Del Maestro was given a jail sentence in June for his own election spending violations.

Election Violations Prompt Resignation of Cabinet Member

Peter Penashue, another Harper Conservative was compelled to step down over election spending violations.

Harper's Office Deploys Interns for Dirty Tricks

In one instance that brought on allegations of Nixonian tactics, junior PMO staffers in the guise of normal citizens were sent out to disrupt a Justin Trudeau speech.

Citizens Ejected from Conservative Rallies

Tory operatives hauled out citizens from a Harper rally in the 2011 campaign because they had marginal ties to other parties. A spokesperson for the PM was compelled to apologize. Problem fixed this time around: Only fully vetted Harper supporters will be allowed, by invite only, to attend the PM's campaign stops. If they have a ticket.

Conservatives Make Campaign Event Attendees Sign Gag Order

Not only have Harper's campaign handlers made his campaign events by invite only, they were forcing anyone let in to sign an agreement not to transmit any description of the event or any images from it -- but dropped the gag orders after news stories made them an issue.

Conservatives Unfix Their Own Fixed Date Election Law

In 2008, Harper pulled the plug on his own government, violating his own new law, which stipulated elections every four years.

August 29, 2015 2:04 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Cons' Elections Bill Strips Power from Elections Canada

The Fair Elections Act also makes it harder for Canadians to vote as more ID is required. Nationwide protests in which more than 400 academics took part forced Pierre Poilievre to withdraw some measures in the bill because of their alleged anti-democratic bent.

Copyright Grab for Attack Ads

CTV News found out Conservatives aimed to rewrite copyright law to let political parties grab any media content and use it for free in their ads. The impact, warned CTV's Don Martin, "will be to cast a chill on every broadcast appearance" by MPs, commentators and reporters, who "must now be aware their views could end up featured in a political attack ad." By asserting "unlimited access to the airwaves for propaganda purposes," Martin said, the Harper government "could be seen as flirting with fascism."

Record Use of Personal Attack Ads

Under Harper's leadership, Conservatives became the first to routinely use personal attacks ads outside an election writ period. Their ads often used quotes deliberately taken out of context. Incidence of attack ads by Harper Conservatives was heavier than by any other government.

August 29, 2015 2:05 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

"Franklin Graham Tells Ashley Madison Users That God Will Forgive Them of Sins, 'Cleanse Them From All Unrighteousness'".

Even assuming god exists, the whole idea that god can forgive your sins is nonsense. If Ted punches you in the nose and I say to Ted "You're forgiven for doing that." it means nothing if you don't forgive Ted. Only the person who's been wronged can forgive the wrondoer - a third party cannot grant you forgiveness.

August 29, 2015 2:08 PM  
Anonymous the Mounties are funny, eh? said...

could someone break the news to Priya:

no one gives a crap about Canadian politics

one day of Donald Trump coverage is more relevant to the rest of the world than 20 years of Canadian whining

August 30, 2015 1:20 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "no one gives a crap about Canadian politics".

LOL, you couldn't stop talking about Canadian politics when the Conservatives won the last election. Of course now that they're losing badly you "aren't interested".

"Canadian whining".

LOL, you're projecting! You're whining, I'm celebrating! The conservative agenda is going down in flames!

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

August 31, 2015 12:21 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Here's some more about your hero Donald Trump, Wyatt/bad anonymous:

Behind Trump, the GOP Really Is Becoming the Racist Party

The Donald is getting the backing of the white supremacist crowd, and the GOP from Priebus on down says nothing. Draw your own conclusion.

Let me offer some friendly advice to the Republican Party that I learned firsthand as a Muslim American: You don’t want to be defined by your most extreme members. And here’s a little more advice. The longer the GOP leadership remains silent as Donald Trump garners increasing support from white supremacist organizations, the more likely the GOP will become known as the party of racists.

I know, some of my progressive friends will say that’s already the case. But that’s not fair. Sure there are racists drawn to the GOP, just like we have seen psychopaths attracted to Islam. I’m sure not all Republicans are racists and I bet some are even disgusted by bigotry.

We are, however, seeing a bone chilling attraction to Trump by white nationalist groups. It’s almost like they view Trump’s candidacy as their last stand against the changing demographics of America. He’s become the poster child for their philosophy that “White Lives Matter More.”

For example, just last week David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux, publicly praised Trump as the best Republican candidate in the 2016 field because he “understands the real sentiment of America.” Duke applauded Trump’s views on immigration that call for mass deportation of families, saying that Trump is ”speaking out on this greatest immediate threat to the American people.”

August 31, 2015 12:22 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Trump’s tepid response to Duke’s glowing praise was troubling to say the least: “I certainly wouldn’t want his endorsement. I don’t need anyone’s endorsement.” When pressed by a reporter to repudiate Duke, Trump responded, “Sure, I would if that would make you feel better.”

Since Trump is not willing to make it clear he wants nothing to do with these hate groups or their followers, it’s time for the GOP leadership to step up and do just that.

As the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Mark Potok explained Saturday on my SiriusXM radio show, this response by Trump was “incredibly weak,” noting that Trump “barely repudiated” Duke. Potok explained that as opposed to Trump saying I’ll condemn Duke if it will “make you feel better,” he should’ve made it unequivocally clear he finds Duke’s views despicable and doesn’t want Duke or his white supremacist followers’ support in any way.

In fact, in 2000, when Trump was considering running for president with a new political organization called the Reform Party, the billionaire publicly stated he wanted nothing to do with the party after he learned that Duke was a part of it. But now, with Trump actually running for president, he’s far less vocal in denouncing Duke.

Duke, however, is far from the only person tied to white supremacist or hate groups publicly endorsing Trump. Last week, white nationalist radio host James Edwards, a man who has warned against interracial marriage, called slavery “the greatest thing that ever happened to” blacks, and featured a “roster of white supremacists” on his show, publicly endorsed Trump.

August 31, 2015 12:23 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Trump has also been touted by neo-Nazi websites such as The Daily Stormer with articles like, “We are all Donald Trump Now.” And as Media Matters set forth in detail a few days ago, the list of white nationalist leaders supporting Trump is alarmingly long.

The issue is not just that these hate groups see something they like in Trump. These groups have the right to endorse anyone they like. The more alarming issue is Trump’s failure to publicly to condemn them.

Since Trump is not willing to make it clear he wants nothing to do with these hate groups or their followers, it’s time for the GOP leadership to step up and do just that. Trump is currently far and away the leader in the race for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Consequently, his actions will increasingly define the Republican Party. And the longer the GOP leaders remain silent, the more likely the Republican Party will be defined by the white supremacist groups publicly endorsing Trump.

August 31, 2015 12:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

General Mills Warns Climate Change Will Lead To Global Food Shortages: "We believe every company, government and individual has a role to play. Climate change is a shared, global challenge that is best addressed at scale."

"In a rebuff to climate deniers, the CEO of American food giant General Mills has asserted that global warming is being created by human activity and is threatening to disrupt global food supplies.

Announcing that the company has set a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent over the next decade across its value chain, from farm to fork to landfill, Ken Powell told The Associated Press: “We think that human-caused greenhouse gas causes climate change and climate volatility and that's going to stress the agricultural supply chain, which is very important to us. Obviously we depend on that for our business, and we all depend on that for the food we eat."

A spokeswoman for the company, whose brands range from Yoplait yogurt and Pillsbury to Haagen-Dazs ice cream and Green Giant vegetables, went further, telling The Huffington Post that a failure to address climate change would make it extremely difficult to feed the world’s growing population, which is expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050.

She pointed to extreme weather and the decline in pollinating insects as worrying signs that are already impacting food production, and she noted that climate change will place stress on vulnerable growing regions around the world that provide important ingredients to make food. For example: 70 percent of the world’s cocoa is sourced from two countries in West Africa; 90 percent of the world’s vanilla is sourced from Madagascar; and 80 percent of the world’s almonds are grown in California.

In what many will see as a sideways swipe at climate deniers within Congress, Powell made it clear that governments need to join forces with business and citizens to drive change.

“While our success depends on our actions, we cannot get there on our own," he said in a statement. "We believe every company, government and individual has a role to play. Climate change is a shared, global challenge that is best addressed at scale.”

General Mills, which will invest more than $100 million in energy efficiency and clean energy within its own facilities worldwide, last year became a member of Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), a leading advocacy coalition of businesses committed to working with policymakers to pass climate and energy legislation. It also joined competitors such as Unilever and Nestlé, by signing BICEP’s Climate Declaration, which states, “We cannot risk our kids’ futures on the false hope that the vast majority of scientists are wrong.” …"

August 31, 2015 2:46 PM  
Anonymous They eat their own said...

Speaker of the House John Boehner stunned audience members Wednesday evening at a Colorado fundraiser by referring to Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz as a “jackass,” two people in attendance tell The Daily Caller.

At a Steamboat Springs event for GOP Rep. Scott Tipton, the Ohio Republican quipped that he likes how Cruz’s presidential campaign keeps “that jackass” out of Washington, and from telling Boehner how to do his job.

That remark rubbed some attendees the wrong way.

“I don’t think it’s terribly speaker-like, and I think it kind of goes against everything that Reagan ever said about disparaging Republicans,” said Ed MacArthur, the president of Native Excavating, who attended the fundraiser.

“It’s becoming very disturbing to me that we can’t have good, polite conversation,” MacArthur said. “It all has to be at the throat.”

But MacArthur added: “I do believe he’s got the right to say it.”

Another Steamboat Springs resident confirmed Boehner’s remark: “I about fell on the floor.”

“To build coalitions to work together in Washington, D.C., you don’t start it out by calling your colleague a ‘jackass,'” she said.

The fundraiser took place at a tavern-styled venue called the Ghost Ranch. About 100 or more people were there. Boehner and Tipton addressed the crowd while standing in front of a stage.

It’s no surprise that Boehner and Cruz have a rocky relationship. The Texas senator and the speaker have clashed over tactics and policy. And Cruz, on the campaign trail, often criticizes the Republican Washington establishment.

For Cruz, the attack could be helpful: Boehner is not beloved by the conservative grassroots activists the Texas senator is courting. And it could further endear Cruz to voters who find Donald Trump’s anti-Washington message appealing.

The Daily Caller has reached out to Boehner, Cruz and Tipton’s press offices for comment.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/27/john-boehner-calls-ted-cruz-a-jackass-at-fundraiser/

August 31, 2015 5:24 PM  
Anonymous Trump and Priya and ISIS said...

Just as Priya doesn't get that Canadian politics is pretty irrelevant and completely boring, the lazy lez also doesn't realize that the KKK sometimes might have a position on some matter that is legitimate. They agree with Trump on immigration. So what?

It's just like the situation with Priya and ISIS. They both hate America and think Americans are arrogant. That doesn't mean Priya will behead Christians and sexually enslave non-Muslim females.

Or does it?

Donald Trump, as has been discussed here before, is a big government liberal type of Republican that has been out of vogue everywhere but New York since the Reagan administration. His closest ideological mates would be Richard Nixon or Nelson Rockefeller. He favors raising taxes on the wealthy and replacing Obamacare with single payer HI. He's against defunding Planned Parenthood and favors giving liberal DC two Senators. His sister is a pro-choice judge and he says she's "wonderful".

Just like Priya!!

September 01, 2015 10:25 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous, why don't you find yourself a nice middle aged man, get married, settle down and stop putting yourself at risk for catching STDs? Same sex marriage is legal and socially acceptable now. You're not going to be able to attract anonymous sex partners forever (if you still can).

Its time you accepted your same sex attractions instead of attacking them through innocent LGBT people. Remember, the American Pyschiatric Association says gays who positively accept their sexual orientation are happier and better adjusted than those who do not.

You're caught in a vicious cycle of feeling terrible because you loath yourself, engaging in promiscuous gay sex to feel temporarily better, and then loathing yourself even more for what you've done which repeats the cycle.

Don't die miserable and hating yourself.

September 01, 2015 2:44 PM  
Anonymous donald, priya and ISIS said...

looks like I hit on something

I was only demonstrating how absurd it is to draw some connection Trump and the KKK but considering the reaction, you have to wonder exactly what Priya is hiding

to reiterate what set lazy Priya off:

1. Canada is insignificant and, thus, its politics are boring

contrast this with the politics of the U.S., which the entire world, including lazy Priya, is fascinated with

2. ISIS agrees with Priya that America is evil and arrogant

3. Donald Trump's views are more similar to Democrats than Republicans

September 01, 2015 3:15 PM  
Anonymous Clark LaLieu said...

gee, I wonder what Priya is hiding...

September 01, 2015 3:23 PM  
Anonymous no worse said...

now that everyone knows Priya sees eye-to-eye with ISIS on America, here's another notable sign of the times:

notable black celebrity says he has always voted Democratic but it hasn't helped blacks

this time, he's voting Republican

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/252181-barkley-voting-for-dems-hasnt-helped-blacks

there ain't no way in the world that Brother Trump can do us any worse than Barack Obama!!

September 01, 2015 3:45 PM  
Anonymous Ian McBloome said...

"gee, I wonder what Priya is hiding"

I second Clark's thought. Maybe Priya secretly

September 01, 2015 3:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Canada is insignificant and, thus, its politics are boring"

And Gov. Walker's plan to build a border wall to keep Canadians out of the USA (Walker's talk about Canadian border wall draws derision) is not only idiotic, but a bit late. Ted Cruz is already here.

"notable black celebrity says he has always voted Democratic but it hasn't helped blacks

this time, he's voting Republican"


You liar.

"NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said on Friday that the years African-Americans had spent supporting Democrats had not improved their economic standing.

“Black people have been voting for Democrats their whole life, and they’re still poor,” the television broadcaster said on “The Dan Patrick Show,” according to The Chicago Sun-Times.

“Republicans don’t do anything for poor people either,” he added. “Neither one of the parties is doing anything for poor people. They’re both full of it.”
Barkley, a longtime Democrat, also admitted on Friday he is underwhelmed by his party’s current 2016 presidential field.

“Ah, well, I vote Democratic most of the time,” he said. “But the Democrats don’t have a candidate I really like.”

The basketball legend then reiterated past claims that he is most impressed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a GOP White House hopeful next year.

“He’s the guy I’m supporting right now,” Barkley said of Kasich. “You know, Dan, it’s tough for me to vote for a Republican but he’s the guy I’m voting for right now. He’s the leader in my clubhouse.”

Barkley added that he also respects Donald Trump, the outspoken billionaire currently leading the race for the Republican nomination in 2016.

“I like Trump,” he said. “The few times I’ve been around him, he’s always treated me cordial. But I’m going with — I can’t pronounce his name, the governor of Ohio — John Kasich.”

The latest RealClearPolitics average of national polls has Kasich ranked eight in the GOP’s crowded field of 17 presidential candidates."


Who thinks Kasich is going to be the 2016 GOP Presidential nominee?

Why aren't you touting O'Keefe's latest "take down" of Hillary Clinton? Can't you stop laughing long enough to send us a link??

Here you go, free chuckles!

Latest James O'Keefe Sting Video Targeting Clinton Campaign Flops: "Are you sure this isn't a joke?"

September 01, 2015 6:06 PM  
Anonymous tossed salads and scrambled eggs said...

"You liar"

well, you cut and pasted, showing that I was telling the truth

"it’s tough for me to vote for a Republican but he’s the guy I’m voting for right now"

Hillary Clinton is no longer held in the good graces of Americans

thus, Democratic leaders are scared as hell, and scrambling to find a way to get someone else nominated

September 01, 2015 7:41 PM  
Anonymous I knew it all along said...

Hillary, Hillary. Hillary...how did you ever think you'd get away with it?


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clinton-water-trump-polarization-grows-poll/story?id=33461702

September 02, 2015 7:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"well, you cut and pasted, showing that I was telling the truth

"it’s tough for me to vote for a Republican but he’s the guy I’m voting for right now""


And just where do you and Mr. Barclay suppose he will cast such a vote "right now'?

Barclay won't be able vote for anyone until his home state holds its primary.

Nobody will be voting for Kasich for President in 2016, unless of course he wins the GOP nomination.

Look out, here comes Mittless, who does not like Trump's tax plan one bit!

Romney Is Horrified by Trump — and That’s Restarting ‘Mitt 2016’ Talk

"As Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican presidential race, frustration and panic have become high enough to make some inside the party Establishment pine for a candidate they roundly rejected as recently as January: Mitt Romney. Romney himself has become one of Trump’s most vocal detractors inside the party. “He’s someone to whom civility means a lot. The whole Trump thing really bothers him,” a close Romney adviser told me — and some Romney-ites are only too happy to talk up the prospect of their man jumping into the race if the Establishment fails to stop Trump, whose support in Iowa and New Hampshire is currently greater than Jeb Bush's, Scott Walker's, Marco Rubio's, Chris Christie's, and John Kasich's combined…"

September 02, 2015 10:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"And just where do you and Mr. Barclay suppose he will cast such a vote "right now'?"

I presume Barkley means he'll vote for him in the primary. Still don't see where I've lied

If Romney thinks he's going to save the country from Trump, that's pretty funny.

The Republicans have a number of terrific candidates. They can't be heard now because the press is currently focused on Trump. It's all very entertaining but the other will get attention after the holidays, in January 2016. Not to worry

September 02, 2015 11:16 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Giggle!

Anti-gay marriage clerk Kim Davis is jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.

Hahahahahahahahaha!

September 03, 2015 2:05 PM  
Anonymous when one citizen isn't free, none of us are free said...

the descent of America into totalitarianism is a laughing matter for our little Canadian jackass

bad things always follow for a society when the gay agenda is embraced

if she was attacking gays and is jailed for that, justice would be met

if she refuses to endorse a perverted version of marriage and is jailed for that, America no longer has freedom but totalitarianism of the twisted

again, someone was jailed for doing nothing but not supporting homosexuality

which was the goal of the gay agenda

to have the force of government penalize thought that is not in accordance with the gay agenda

September 03, 2015 2:31 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "someone was jailed for doing nothing but not supporting homosexuality".

LOL, the bigot's last redoubt - distortion of reality. Just like the false claim that bigots are condemned for "mere disagreement", as though bigots are condemned for innocuously saying things such as vanilla ice cream is better than chocolate when the reality is they are condemned for advocating that gays be denied equal rights, not for "mere disagreement".

She wasn't jailed for "not supporting gayness", she was jailed for refusing to do her job as a civil servant and denying citizens their rights. If she had stood on a street corner and shouted how she doesn't support gayness, or wrote letters to the editor condemning gayness, or telling all her friends she doesn't support gayness she wouldn't be in jail - she's perfectly free to "not support gayness", but she's not free to refuse to do the job she's paid to do and discriminate against same sex couples.

No one is "penalizing thought", that's just another false claim to try to gain sympathy for bigots. She's free to think whatever the hell she wants while she issues those marriage licenses, but that doesn't mean she's free to break the law.


Its time society stopped rewarding bigotry by treating bigots with kid gloves when they break the law.

If this was a Muslim marriage clerk refusing to issue a marriage license to a christian opposite sex couple you'd here christians like Wyatt/bad anonymous screaming bloody murder and demanding that the Muslim clerk be forced to do her job instead of absurdly claiming he or she should be allowed to "not support christianity". Once again, this isn't a matter of principle for christians like Wyatt/bad anonymous, its about special privileges for anti-gay christians.

I'm calling the Wahhh-mbulance for you Wyatt.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

September 03, 2015 2:58 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

If Kim Davis didn't want to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples she should have resigned the job whose duties she refused to perform. She chose to go to jail, she has no one to blame but herself.

September 03, 2015 3:12 PM  
Anonymous Unjoker said...

Kim Davis is an elected official. As such, she is responsible for performing her duties as she sees fit. The judge of that is the electorate. If they have a problem with this, they could decline to re-elect her. Of course, we all know that won't happen, for the very simple reason that most citizens of Kentucky agree with Kim Davis.

There is also a provision of the Kentucky constitution that permits the impeachment of someone who refuses to perform their duty. If convicted, they would be removed from office and replaced. Of course, we all know that won't happen, for the very simple reason that most citizens of Kentucky agree with Kim Davis.

This problem has been created because the SCOTUS has invented a right that doesn't exist in the Constitution. It's an area, marriage and family, that is under local purview. This is why, legally, there are only local remedies available.

Barack Obama refuses to carry out his duties regularly but no one suggests jailing him. It's left to the electorate. Only the gay rights movement tries to impose their beliefs on others through governmental force. It's totalitarian.

"If she had stood on a street corner and shouted how she doesn't support gayness, or wrote letters to the editor condemning gayness, or telling all her friends she doesn't support gayness she wouldn't be in jail - she's perfectly free to "not support gayness", but she's not free to refuse to do the job she's paid to do and discriminate against same sex couples."

There are moves to criminalize all this. It's part of the agenda. For example, if you were on that street corner and one of your employees heard you, you could be sued for creating a hostile workplace. The gay agenda leaders have repeatedly said "there's much work left to do". They are attempting to criminalize, penalize and ostracize anyone who dares to homosexuality is not normal or desirable.

No joke.


September 03, 2015 5:42 PM  
Anonymous tis of thee said...

look, kids!!

it's ten officials who refused to do their duty and didn't go to jail

it's because only opposing the gay agenda is a real criminal offense in America now and these guys all failed to do their duty when it was against the gay agenda:

http://dailysignal.com/2015/09/03/10-public-officials-who-defied-the-law-over-gay-marriage-mostly-silent-on-kim-davis-case/

September 04, 2015 11:24 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "look, kids!! it's ten officials who refused to do their duty and didn't go to jail".

Nonsense. All of those cases were of officials refusing to defend gay marriage bans in court or challenges of gay marriage bans. Government officials have no obligation to defend laws in court that they believe are unconstitutional. And its perfectly legal to challenge existing law.

Nice try, but you lose!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

September 04, 2015 1:49 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "Kim Davis is an elected official. As such, she is responsible for performing her duties as she sees fit. The judge of that is the electorate. If they have a problem with this, they could decline to re-elect her. ".

Her authority in deciding how to perform her duties is not absolute, she is still subject to the law, she broke the law and that is why she is rightfully in jail at this moment. Davis wasn't "performing her duties as she sees fit", she wasn't perfroming them at all and that is a criminal offence. Politicians are put in jail all the time for breaking the law, legally the court doesn't have to defer to the public to decide whether or not to re-elect them. Criminals don't have the right to stay in office. You are simply ignorant of the law.


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "This problem has been created because the SCOTUS has invented a right that doesn't exist in the Constitution. It's an area, marriage and family, that is under local purview. This is why, legally, there are only local remedies available.".

False. Marriage laws are subject to the overriding principles of the constitution. State government can make marriage laws as long as they don't run afoul of the constitution. Gay marriage bans violated the 14th amendment and so were rightfully struck down by the supreme court. The bill of rights applies to individuals, not groups. Therefore it is insufficient to say "Men and women have the same right to marry a person of the opposite sex (that argument was rejected by the supreme court in loving vs virginia as well when opponents of interracial marriage argued that both races have the same right to marry within their race). The bill of rights demands that individuals be treated equally, therefore if John has the right to marry Susan then Jill must have the same right to marry Susan - case closed.

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "Barack Obama refuses to carry out his duties regularly but no one suggests jailing him. It's left to the electorate.".

A tired old right wing lie. There are no examples of Obama refusing to carry out his duties. The right wing likes to falsely claim he's refused to enforce immigration law when the reality is that he's deported more illegal immigrants than any other president - the truth is exactly the opposite of what the right wing claims.

September 04, 2015 1:50 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "Only the gay rights movement tries to impose their beliefs on others through governmental force. It's totalitarian."

LOL, the right wing fought tooth and nail to keep it illegal for gays to have sex. The right wing fought tooth and nail to force gays and lesbians to remain single. The right wing has fought tooth and nail to prevent gay relationships and force gays and lesbians into opposite sex relationships and marriage. The right wing fights to use the government to deny women access to abortion and contraception The right wing fights to have government schools force children to recite christian prayers and say the pledge of allegiance against their will. No one has used the force of government to impose their beliefs on others more than the right wing.

Kim Davis is free to believe whatever she wants. Under Kentucky law, Davis, as a public official, is obligated to fulfill ALL duties of her position. She refused. In addition, she actively prevented other employees from doing their jobs as well--all because she claims it violates her religious beliefs.

Not only has Davis refused to do her job, she also used her position to forbid assistant clerks from doing their jobs as well. There are clerks in her office willing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis ordered them to refuse service to gay clients because her religion is anti-gay. Davis isn't just demanding the right to drag her religious beliefs into her job. She is also demanding county employees abide by her religious beliefs, as well as local residents, even those in same-sex relationships.

Davis is in jail for contempt of court, not for her beliefs. Davis maneuvered herself onto the cross and is now the martyr she sought to be.

September 04, 2015 1:51 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

What she never understood was she was never acting on her own behalf as country clerk.

Davis is a public official doing the work of government. Government should treat all citizens fairly. It doesn't, but should. Davis was not acting on her own behalf. She didn't issue marriage licenses; the county did. She issued them on behalf of the government.

Since she was acting on behalf of the state,her own religious views are utterly immaterial. If they forbid her from doing the job, she had the moral obligation to step down.

Davis has only been in this job a few months. When she took office, it was already widely known that gay marriage would be ruled on shortly. It was also widely speculated that the Supreme Court would rule in favor of marriage equality, especially given the almost unanimous lower court rulings. So, the "hazard" of having to issue same-sex marriage licenses was one she knew was a very real possibility when she took the job. She went into this with eyes wide open.

The marriage license was legally valid because the Country Clerk issued it, not because Kim Davis issued it. She could resign and issue licenses all day long from her home, but that wouldn't make them legal. Kim Davis has no legal authority other than when acting as Clerk, and, when she is acting as County Clerk she is not acting on her own behalf.

As this is the case, her personal religious views are utterly immaterial. The County itself does not hold religious views. State and religion are separate entities. If Ms. Davis is under the impression the County Clerk should have religious beliefs, she is mistaken. The County Clerk is an office, not a person.

September 04, 2015 1:51 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

What Davis is doing in issuing a license is merely saying two people are legally qualified to enter a marriage. She is not sanctioning the marriage. She is not saying she approves of their choices. She is merely affirming they are legally qualified, nothing more. She is not approving of it, or disapproving of it. If she can't do her job, then she should resign.

I said "If she had stood on a street corner and shouted how she doesn't support gayness, or wrote letters to the editor condemning gayness, or telling all her friends she doesn't support gayness she wouldn't be in jail - she's perfectly free to "not support gayness", but she's not free to refuse to do the job she's paid to do and discriminate against same sex couples."


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "There are moves to criminalize all this. It's part of the agenda. For example, if you were on that street corner and one of your employees heard you, you could be sued for creating a hostile workplace. The gay agenda leaders have repeatedly said "there's much work left to do". They are attempting to criminalize, penalize and ostracize anyone who dares to homosexuality is not normal or desirable.".

Utter nonsense. Anti-gay christians rant all day and night through ever available media how they think gayness is not normal or desirable, even calling for gays to be put to death and no one has ever been charged with a crime. This is simply more right wing lies to try to pretend anti-gay christians are somehow victims when it is they seeking to impose their religious beliefs on others and deny them their rights, not vice versa.

September 04, 2015 1:52 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

As conservative here Judge Anton Scalia said :

"“Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices. … Can a man excuse his practices to the contrary because of his religious belief? To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.”

“To make an individual’s obligation to obey such a law contingent upon the law’s coincidence with his religious beliefs, except where the State’s interest is “compelling” — permitting him, by virtue of his beliefs, “to become a law unto himself,” Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. at 167 — contradicts both constitutional tradition and common sense.”

Davis is not herself limited to only entering a same sex marriage, or compelled to engage in the sexual activity she considers objectionable. Her objection is that it is sinful for others to do so.
Therefore the interference with her right to act in accordance with their religious belief is trivial or insubstantial, in that it is interference that does not threaten actual religious beliefs or conduct.


Religious congregations are pretty much able to do what they want within their churches, but don’t get to make up new rules when they act as part of secular society [see: Catholic charities, that pavilion in New Jersey, etc.], this court case isn’t infringing on what churches are able to do and believe. It’s simply saying to people who work for the government, “You have a job you were hired to do, and these are the laws. Don’t like it? Get a new job.”


If the court were to rule that Davis was allowed to refuse to do her duties due to her religious beliefs it would open the floodgates for government employees throughout the nation to refuse to do all manner of duties due to their religious beliefs. The judge in this case intelligently refuses to open that pandora's box.

September 04, 2015 1:53 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

I wrote "As conservative here Judge Anton Scalia said :".

That should have said "As conservative hero Judge Anton Scalia said :"

September 04, 2015 2:09 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

I said "If she had stood on a street corner and shouted how she doesn't support gayness, or wrote letters to the editor condemning gayness, or telling all her friends she doesn't support gayness she wouldn't be in jail - she's perfectly free to "not support gayness", but she's not free to refuse to do the job she's paid to do and discriminate against same sex couples."


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "There are moves to criminalize all this. It's part of the agenda. For example, if you were on that street corner and one of your employees heard you, you could be sued for creating a hostile workplace...".

LOL, you idiot, you can't be sued for "creating a hostile workplace" when your actions take place outside of work.

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

September 04, 2015 2:27 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Next time someone tells you "all lives matter," show them this cartoon

The point of Black Lives Matter isn't to suggest that black lives should be or are more important than all other lives, but instead that black people's lives are relatively undervalued in the US (and more likely to be ended by police), and the country needs to recognize that inequity to bring an end to it.

Reddit user GeekAesthete made this point in a thread explaining why the phrase "all lives matter" is offensive:

"Imagine that you're sitting down to dinner with your family, and while everyone else gets a serving of the meal, you don't get any. So you say "I should get my fair share." And as a direct response to this, your dad corrects you, saying, "everyone should get their fair share." Now, that's a wonderful sentiment -- indeed, everyone should, and that was kinda your point in the first place: that you should be a part of everyone, and you should get your fair share also. However, dad's smart-ass comment just dismissed you and didn't solve the problem that you still haven't gotten any!"

September 04, 2015 2:40 PM  
Anonymous Kim Davis' stunt demolished in one brilliant tweet said...

Rachel Held Evans
@rachelheldevans

No one's being jailed for practicing her religion. Someone's being jailed for using the government to force others to practice her religion.

September 04, 2015 3:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As we’ve seen a dizzying amount of times, conservatives have used the popular fundraising site GoFundMe to enrich and support people who they believe are on their side of the “culture war” – including officers who have killed unarmed black teenagers, Tea Partiers who got sick after refusing to sign up for Obamacare, and an endless number of bakeries run by Christians who want to discriminate against gay people. Watching these bakers and cops make fortunes (literally) just by “standing up” for conservative values has had the effect that anyone with a conservative point of view and a desire to be flooded with money can milk the conservative GoFundMe cash cow.

On GoFundMe’s end, this has been a PR nightmare. It’s not clear exactly what the site’s creators expected when they set up the page, but it’s hard to imagine they thought they would be faced with dozens of new campaigns set up for killers, racists, and homophobes on a weekly basis. After watching several high-profile conservative faux-victims become millions from exploiting their site, the creators finally announced that enough was enough. In April, they announced that they would no longer certain types of disgusting campaigns from thriving on GoFundMe. More specifically – and this is where Davis gets screwed out of the millions surely waiting for her – the site has a specific policy about criminals:

Campaigns in defense of formal charges or claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful, sexual or discriminatory acts.

The jailed Davis, held on contempt of court charges, surely fits the bill. (And Davis technically pulls off a rare double disqualification because it’s also a “discriminatory act.”)

Would conservatives have really given Davis millions just for not doing her job? It seems pretty clear that the answer is yes when one looks at how they’ve positioned her as a Christian martyr.


It's good that GoFundMe is no longer helping to incentivise these kind of bigoted and or illegal behaviors. GoFundMe has returned to its intended mission, and not helping Right Wing cranks hit the notoriety jackpot.

September 04, 2015 3:24 PM  
Anonymous Christian privilege said...

"it's because only opposing the gay agenda is a real criminal offense in America now"

If you think Davis was jailed for her opposition to marriage equality, you are incorrect. She was taken into custody because she deliberately, brazenly ignored a court order. Davis was bound, not only to perform her official duties, but also to follow the law. She refused and is now in contempt of court.

Thrice divorced Davis was elected to be county clerk last fall, filling the position her mother held for 37 years. She told the Morehead News after winning her election, “My words can never express the appreciation,” she said of the constituents who voted for her, “but I promise to each and every one that I will be the very best working clerk that I can be and will be a good steward of their tax dollars and follow the statutes of this office to the letter.”

Less than a year later, she has already broken that promise.

September 05, 2015 7:21 AM  
Anonymous bunning to jail said...

"Government officials have no obligation to defend laws in court that they believe are unconstitutional. And its perfectly legal to challenge existing law."

Earth to Priya:

Kim Davis thinks forcing elected state officials to issue marriage licenses to homosexual pervert partnerships is unconstitutional

Kim was elected to her office and one of her duties was to determine if marriage license applications were valid and approve them if she thought they were

she was elected prior to the fallacious ruling of the SCOTUS in June. She made no secret of her beliefs during her election

Under Kentucky law, her signature is required for a marriage license to be valid. the 3 issued while she is in jail have the signature line blank and are invalid

they won't hold up in court

Judge Bunning says he is not sure if they are valid but says he ordered them issued anyway

considering how "law and order" coastal liberals have become, I'm sure they agree that he should be jailed

meanwhile, if these gays want actual valid marriage licenses, all they have to do is drive a couple of minutes away and get married at the next county over

but, what fun would that be for the gay agenda a-holes?

September 05, 2015 7:53 AM  
Anonymous Kim is a hero, Priya is an invasive species said...

"Her authority in deciding how to perform her duties is not absolute, she is still subject to the law, she broke the law and that is why she is rightfully in jail at this moment. Davis wasn't "performing her duties as she sees fit", she wasn't perfroming them at all and that is a criminal offence. Politicians are put in jail all the time for breaking the law, legally the court doesn't have to defer to the public to decide whether or not to re-elect them. Criminals don't have the right to stay in office. You are simply ignorant of the law."

how lazy Priya is

nothing to do all day but sit on the coach and surf the web

and still has not bothered to become informed

Kim Davis has not been jailed for failure to do her duty. She has been jailed for contempt of court. She refused to follow an unconstitutional court order that the judge is now conceding he is not sure he had authority to make

under Kentucky law, an elected official accused of crime is not tried in a regular court but in impeachment proceedings in the state legislature

so far, no legislator has suggested bringing any impeachment charges

Kim will be released on appeal and Bunning will be removed

no state official who refused a court order has ever been jailed before

even when George Wallace maliciously stood in the doorway to prevent black kids from attending a white public school, he wasn't arrested or jailed

Federal marshals simply escorted the kids in

the answer here is simple as well

if the gays want valid licenses, they can choose from over a hundred Kentucky county clerks who will issue them

but the purpose of the gay agenda has never been to get marriage licenses

it has been to force people who disagree with gay marriage to issue them

Kim Davis stood up and resisted

she's a hero

September 05, 2015 8:09 AM  
Anonymous dong the job on Labor Day said...

one would have to work full-time to respond to all Priya's crap, but here's a couple more:

"Not only has Davis refused to do her job, she also used her position to forbid assistant clerks from doing their jobs as well. There are clerks in her office willing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis ordered them to refuse service to gay clients because her religion is anti-gay. Davis isn't just demanding the right to drag her religious beliefs into her job. She is also demanding county employees abide by her religious beliefs, as well as local residents, even those in same-sex relationships."

this is false, as even Judge Bunning is now conceding

the assistants have no authority to issue licenses without her signature

the assistants merely prepare paperwork for her

by law, they do so at here direction

they have no elected authority

the licenses issued this week without the signature of the elected clerk aren't valid and will not be recognized anywhere in the country

What she never understood was she was never acting on her own behalf as country clerk.

"Davis is a public official doing the work of government"

here in America, government represents the people

it is not an entity unto itself

"Since she was acting on behalf of the state, her own religious views are utterly immaterial. If they forbid her from doing the job, she had the moral obligation to step down."

she was doing it on behalf of the people of Kentucky

if they don't think she is doing that well, the remedy is to not re-elect her

but we all know that is unlikely

"Davis has only been in this job a few months"

actually, she took office on fall 2014

"The marriage license was legally valid because the Country Clerk issued it, not because Kim Davis issued it. She could resign and issue licenses all day long from her home, but that wouldn't make them legal. Kim Davis has no legal authority other than when acting as Clerk, and, when she is acting as County Clerk she is not acting on her own behalf."

ignorant

marriage licenses are legally valid when, and only when, the county clerk has approved the union and signed the license

the purpose of electing officials is to bestow decision-making authority on them

it was her decision to not approve these unions

if the people of Kentucky disagree, they can elect someone else next time

but we all know, she represents Kentucky very well

that's her J-O-B

September 05, 2015 8:35 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

The schadenfreude is particularly well-seasoned this evening. My compliments to the chef!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

September 05, 2015 2:58 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Theology 101 with the clerk of Rowan county KY.

"Ah will not issue marriage licenses to homosexuals because the bahble sez it's a sin."

"Divorcin' and remarryin' multiple times like me? Well the bahble is very clear on that -"Judge not lest you be judged"!".

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaaha!

September 05, 2015 3:07 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "the purpose of electing officials is to bestow decision-making authority on them it was her decision to not approve these unions if the people of Kentucky disagree, they can elect someone else next time".

LOL, by that logic she can murder gays as her bible commands her to do and she can't be arrested because if the people of Kentucky disagree with her killing gays they can elect someone else next time.

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

Moron! Being an elected official doesn't give you immunity from the consequences of breaking the law!

As conservative hero Judge Anton Scalia said :

"“Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices. … Can a man excuse his practices to the contrary because of his religious belief? To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.”

“To make an individual’s obligation to obey such a law contingent upon the law’s coincidence with his religious beliefs, except where the State’s interest is “compelling” — permitting him, by virtue of his beliefs, “to become a law unto himself,” Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. at 167 — contradicts both constitutional tradition and common sense.”

September 05, 2015 3:12 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

I said "Government officials have no obligation to defend laws in court that they believe are unconstitutional. And its perfectly legal to challenge existing law."

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "Kim Davis thinks forcing elected state officials to issue marriage licenses to homosexual pervert partnerships is unconstitutional".

Irrelevant. She was not asked to defend marriage equality in court nor was it her job to do so. The examples you gave of government officials refusing to defend gay marriage bans in court has nothing to do with this. Their sworn duty was to enforce those laws, which they all did, not to defend them in court. By the same token it is Kim Davis's sworn duty to enforce the laws of the land, not to defend them in court.

Contrary to your lie that Kim Davis started her job in the fall of 2014 she took office January 2015 and it was already widely known that gay marriage would be ruled on shortly. It was also widely speculated that the Supreme Court would rule in favor of marriage equality, especially given the almost unanimous lower court rulings. So, the "hazard" of having to issue same-sex marriage licenses was one she knew was a very real possibility when she took the job. She went into this with eyes wide open.

Kim Davis's took an oath to enforce all laws, including any new ones that would be passed while she was in office. No government official has a right to only enforce those laws that were in effect the day the took office. Kim Davis broke the law by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. She is rightfully in jail for failing to uphold her sworn oath.

September 05, 2015 3:27 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "meanwhile, if these gays want actual valid marriage licenses, all they have to do is drive a couple of minutes away and get married at the next county over".

And if the law allows Kim Davis to refuse to issue marriage licenses it would allow the clerks in the next county over to do the same and all across the country until its impossible to get a marriage license anywhere. The line has to be drawn somewhere. If you let one marriage clerk refuse marriage licenses you have to let them all refuse marriage licenses. Denying citizens their civil rights in this way simply cannot be tolerated.

Gay couples have a right to get a marriage license in the county they live in. This civil right cannot be denied or the whole country ends up in chaos.

If Kim Davis doesn't want to issue gay marriage licenses she can simply quit her job. She says its impossible for her to complete her duties therefore the only honourable thing for her to do is resign.

September 05, 2015 3:33 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

I said "Not only has Davis refused to do her job, she also used her position to forbid assistant clerks from doing their jobs as well. There are clerks in her office willing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis ordered them to refuse service to gay clients because her religion is anti-gay. Davis isn't just demanding the right to drag her religious beliefs into her job. She is also demanding county employees abide by her religious beliefs, as well as local residents, even those in same-sex relationships."

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "this is false, as even Judge Bunning is now conceding".

A baseless pathetic lie.

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "the assistants have no authority to issue licenses without her signature the assistants merely prepare paperwork for her by law, they do so at here direction they have no elected authority the licenses issued this week without the signature of the elected clerk aren't valid and will not be recognized anywhere in the country".

Wishful thinking on the part of stupid Davis and her stupid supporters like you.

“In the absence of the county clerk, the county judge/executive may issue a
marriage license (KRS 402.240)”
http://www.lrc.ky.gov/lrcpubs/ib114.pdf

“KRS 402.240 provides that in the absence of the county clerk, or during a vacancy in the office, the county judge/executive may issue the license and, in so doing, he shall perform the duties and incur all the responsibilities of the clerk. The county judge/executive shall return a memorandum to that effect to the clerk and the memorandum shall be recorded as if the license had been issued by the clerk.”

That would be Walter ‘Doc’ Blevins and he can authorize the deputies to issue marriage licenses while she is absent in jail.

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "under Kentucky law, an elected official accused of crime is not tried in a regular court but in impeachment proceedings in the state legislature so far, no legislator has suggested bringing any impeachment charges".

You fool, the impeachment procedings only remove her from office, they do not take the place of criminal court procedings which remain under jurisdiction of the legal system. The legislature cannot convict her of the crimes she's committed, only the legal system can, as it has.

How lazy Wyatt/bad anonymous is, shirks his job duties while he's at work to surf the web reading right wing propaganda and still has not bothered to become informed.


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "if the gays want valid licenses, they can choose from over a hundred Kentucky county clerks who will issue them".

Absolutely unacceptable. If the court were to rule that Davis was allowed to refuse to do her duties due to her religious beliefs it would open the floodgates for government employees throughout the nation to refuse to do all manner of duties due to their religious beliefs. The judge in this case intelligently refuses to open that pandora's box.


September 05, 2015 4:15 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

There is nothing Kim Davis can do to prevent same sex couples from receiving valid marriage licenses in Rowan county KY. It is an absolute delight that she's in jail and the sworn duties she refused to perform are being carried out by the Davis's deputies! I hope she's really stubborn and stays in jail a very long time.

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

September 05, 2015 4:18 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymouss said "no state official who refused a court order has ever been jailed before".

LOL, how pathetic! It happens ALL the time. I found this in about 30 seconds:


http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/05/oklahoma-judge-mental-health-official-contempt-court

September 05, 2015 4:27 PM  
Anonymous Christian privilege said...

"Kim Davis has not been jailed for failure to do her duty. She has been jailed for contempt of court. "

In July, after refusing to issue marriage licenses in Rowan County, Kentucky, Kim Davis was sued in federal district court. On August 12, 2015, Judge Bunning issued a preliminary injection ordering her to issue marriage licenses to any qualified couple.

Davis appealed that decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit asking for a stay pending her appeal, and on August 26, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit, Judges Keith, Rogers, and Donald denied the stay. That panel noted she was unlikely to succeed on appeal on the merits of her case.

Davis then appealed to the Supreme Court for a stay and the Supreme Court unanimously denied to stay the district court's ruling. This was the last legal route Davis could seek to maintain her policy of not issuing any marriage licenses.

She is not only denying gays the right to marry in Rowan County, she is denying ALL couples, gay and straight the right to marry in Rowan County.

Davis has violated the First Amendment by openly adopting a policy that promotes her own religion convictions at the expense of qualified couples who want to get married in Rowan County, Kentucky.

September 05, 2015 5:13 PM  
Anonymous You know you've lost the argument when you compare to the Nazis said...

"An attorney for Kim Davis, who was jailed Thursday after being found in contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County, Kentucky, compared the clerk's situation to the one Jews were faced with in Nazi Germany.

Mathew Staver, who is currently serving as head legal counsel for Davis, made the comparison on the "Crosstalk" radio show Wednesday, RightWingWatch.com reported.

"[Davis is] there to do a duty, a job and the job duty was changed," Staver argued. "Does that mean that if you’re Christian, don’t apply here? ... What happened in Nazi Germany, what happened there first, they removed the Jews from government public employment, then they stopped patronizing them in their private businesses, then they continued to stigmatize them, then they were the ‘problems,’ then they killed them."

Staver doubled down on his Nazi Germany comparison on Thursday on "Washington Watch," a radio show hosted by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, going so far as to invoke images of gas chambers while doing so, RightWingWatch.com noted.

"Back in the 1930s, it began with the Jews, where they were evicted from public employment, then boycotted in their private employment, then stigmatized and that led to the gas chambers," Staver told Perkins. "This is the new persecution of Christians here in this country.”

"You cannot obey something that is contrary to God's law," Staver continued. "And we would easily say, well, what would happen if the government forced you to turn over a Jew in Nazi Germany? All of us would say we wouldn't do that, we wouldn't listen to that. Well, we're about ready to walk into the moment.”"


Germans have come a long way since the Nazis were defeated. They are welcoming Semites from Syria, up to a totally of 800,000 this year. "The first group of refugees arrived in Munich on Saturday afternoon to cheers from local supporters….They were greeted by locals who applauded and cheered, while volunteers handed out food and supplies."

September 05, 2015 5:31 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "Kim will be released on appeal and Bunning will be removed".

LOL, you MORON! She's exhausted all her appeals and lost!

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

September 05, 2015 5:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

(SALEM, Ore.) — Marion County Judge Vance Day is being investigated by a judicial fitness commission in part over his refusal to perform same-sex marriages on religious grounds, a spokesman for the judge said.

When a federal court ruling in May 2014 made same-sex marriage legal in Oregon, Day instructed his staff to refer same-sex couples looking to marry to other judges, spokesman Patrick Korten said Friday.

Last fall, he decided to stop performing weddings altogether, aside from one in March that had long been scheduled, Korten said.

“He made a decision nearly a year ago to stop doing weddings altogether, and the principal factor that he weighed was the pressure that one would face to perform a same-sex wedding, which he had a conflict with his religious beliefs,” Korten said.

In an email, Day declined to comment and referred questions to Korten.

The issue of same-sex weddings is “the weightiest” of several allegations against Day that are being investigated by the Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability, Korten said.

He declined to detail any of the allegations, saying he didn’t want to defy the commission, which considers complaints confidential until it is ready to make them public.

The investigation of Day’s conduct comes amid heightened national attention to the responsibilities of public officials who oppose same-sex marriage. Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, went to jail Thursday because of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Last month, the Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Conduct said judges can’t refuse to marry same-sex couples on personal, moral or religious grounds.

Judges who stop performing all marriages to avoid marrying same-sex couples may be interpreted as biased and could be disqualified from any case where sexual orientation is an issue, the Ohio board ruled.

The investigation of Day came to light Thursday when the Oregon Government Ethics Commission — a separate entity from the judicial fitness commission — approved the judge’s request to create a legal defense fund to pay his lawyers.

Day, a former chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, was appointed to the bench in 2011 by then-Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat.

Day’s move concerned Jeana Frazzini, co-director of the gay-rights group Basic Rights Oregon.

“Taking that kind of a step really calls into question how an LGBTQ person could expect to be treated in a court of law,” Frazzini said. “It goes beyond marriage and gets to serious questions about judicial integrity.”

September 06, 2015 9:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the Kentucky story again reveals the character of the gay agenda people

a couple of gays received marriage licenses, not valid, this week and were giddy, saying they are so happy to finally be married

but is they so desperately wanted that, it was a short drive to the next county over to get one

they didn't really care about being married

they cared about attacking those who oppose gay marriages

here's a little something from a piece of trash in Canada

"It is an absolute delight that she's in jail ... I hope she stays in jail a very long time"

"There is nothing Kim Davis can do to prevent same sex couples from receiving valid marriage licenses in Rowan county KY"

she already has

the licenses aren't valid under Kentucky law

btw, the latest national poll, out this morning has Trump ahead of Hillary by five points in the general election

good news for Democrats, since that's what he is







http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html

September 06, 2015 10:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"a couple of gays received marriage licenses, not valid"

According to who?? According to Ms. Davis and her attorney, Mat Staver who have been wrong about every legal matter so far, that's who.

Ky. clerk’s attorney: New marriage licenses ‘not worth the paper they’re written on’

"MOREHEAD, Ky. – An attorney for jailed Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis said Friday that the marriage licenses issued by her deputies to several same-sex couples are invalid.

“They are not worth the paper they’re written on,” Mat Staver said outside the Carter County Detention Center, where Davis is being held on a contempt charge.

Speaking at an afternoon news conference in Grayson, about 35 miles from the Rowan County Courthouse, Staver said: “Our position and the position of the clerk of Rowan County is that those licenses are void.”

The licenses issued to same-sex couples Friday aren’t valid, Staver argued, because they were issued under the county clerk’s authority — but Davis hasn’t granted that authority.

The marriage forms issued Friday did not bear Davis’s name because of her refusal to endorse them. Instead, the clerk’s office included a space for a deputy clerk to sign his or her name.

U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning sent Davis to jail and ordered the deputy clerks to issue licenses in her absence. A representative for Bunning could not be reached for comment Friday.

As the Lexington Herald-Leader noted, Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins has previously said deputy clerks don’t need Davis’s approval to issue valid marriage licenses. Reached at his office Friday, Watkins declined to comment.

In other Kentucky counties, marriage licenses are routinely signed by a deputy, even though the clerk’s name appears on the form.

Staver’s remarks came more than seven hours after the opening of the Rowan County Courthouse, where Brian Mason was waiting behind a sign reading: “Marriage License Deputy.”..."


Since Ms. Davis refuses to do her job, the work of her office will continue under the authority of her deputies.

September 06, 2015 12:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"the latest national poll, out this morning has Trump ahead of Hillary by five points in the general election"

All right, count on it!

Just like you could count on Rasmussen's "latest" national poll from September 2011 showing Romney ahead of Obama by 3 points.

September 06, 2015 12:53 PM  
Anonymous yee-haw! said...

oh, I'm not counting on it

unlike TTFers, I oppose his positions on taxes, trade protectionism, planned parenthood

still, it's not out of question that he win the nomination

and why would he not win the general election?

the common wisdom is that he won't get enough Hispanic votes

what everyone is forgetting is that he can exploit some inconvenient facts to increase the percentage of blacks that vote Republican

aside from his desire to raise taxes on the rich, he can also point to a multitude of economic studies that show that the 11 million illegal immigrants have suppressed employment participation and wages of the black community

throw in his support for entitlements and school choice, and he will be able to convince black voters he has their best interests in mind and that they are worse off now than the day Barack Obama was elected

all based on fact

meanwhile, Black Lives Matter are taking down hypocrites like Hillary, O'Malley and Saunders

September 06, 2015 10:00 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Christian Right Still Trying to Create More Unwanted Pregnancies

Remember that pilot project in Colorado that provided free IUDs and long-term hormonal birth control to teenage girls and resulted in big decreases in both teen pregnancies and abortion? The private funding has run out and they want to get public funding to expand the program to all teen girls in that state, but as usual the opposition is coming from those who are most stridently (at least publicly) against the very thing the program reduces.

Six years ago Children’s Hospital Colorado, outside Denver, and dozens of clinics around the state began focusing on long-acting forms of contraception, such as IUDs and hormonal implants.

Colorado’s experiment was funded with a $23 million grant from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for the late wife of billionaire Warren Buffett. And the results are striking: By 2013, teen births in Colorado had dropped 40 percent — compared with a 30 percent decline nationwide. The steep drop continued last year. Abortions among teenagers in Colorado were also down. Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper said the savings in Medicaid and government assistance far outweigh the up-front costs.

“What greater gift can you give to a teenaged potential mother than the opportunity to plan her family so when she has children, it’s when they’re wanted, when she can afford to care for them … and to do it in such a cost-effective way in terms of government spending? It dramatically reduces government spending,” he said.

September 07, 2015 12:40 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

When seed money from the Buffett foundation ran out this summer, Hickenlooper asked for state funding to continue the program. But Republican state lawmakers like Rep. Kathleen Conti said no. Conti complains that the long-acting birth control is too expensive and sends the wrong message to teenagers who should instead be taught to refrain from sex.

“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think the doctors encouraged the kids: ‘Now that you’ve got this, feel free to have sex with everybody.’ But I think it, by default, takes away one more intimidating problem.”

Conti also worries about an increase in sexually transmitted diseases, though there’s been no evidence of that in Colorado. Other critics complain that the program doesn’t require enough parental involvement.

More evidence for the argument I’ve been making for years, that the anti-abortion movement really isn’t about reducing the number of abortions at all. If they wanted to do that, they’d be in favor of the widest possible distribution of birth control methods at no charge. But they aren’t. Because what they really want is to control people’s sexual choices, especially women.

September 07, 2015 12:41 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "even when George Wallace maliciously stood in the doorway to prevent black kids from attending a white public school, he wasn't arrested or jailed Federal marshals simply escorted the kids in".

If it was just a matter of escorting gay couples past Kim Davis to get their marriage licenses she wouldn't have been arrested either. George Wallace wasn't able to prevent black children from attending the white school but Kim Davis was able to prevent gay couples from getting their wedding license. That's why she had to be arrested but George Wallace did not.

And how fitting of you to compare Kim Davis to George Wallace. She's a bigot standing in the way of other peoples civil rights just like George Wallace was. She'll be remembered in the same way, as the last gasp stand of a bigot trying to prevent the inevitable march of justice.

September 07, 2015 2:06 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

I said ""There is nothing Kim Davis can do to prevent same sex couples from receiving valid marriage licenses in Rowan county KY"


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "she already has the licenses aren't valid under Kentucky law".

LOL, wishful thinking on the part of stupid Kim Davis and her stupid supporters like Wyatt/bad anonymous!

"In the absence of the county clerk, the county judge/executive may issue a
marriage license (KRS 402.240)”

http://www.lrc.ky.gov/lrcpubs/ib114.pdf

“KRS 402.240 provides that in the absence of the county clerk, or during a vacancy in the office, the county judge/executive may issue the license and, in so doing, he shall perform the duties and incur all the responsibilities of the clerk. The county judge/executive shall return a memorandum to that effect to the clerk and the memorandum shall be recorded as if the license had been issued by the clerk.”

That would be Walter ‘Doc’ Blevins and he can authorize the deputies to issue marriage licenses while she is absent in jail.

The bigoted, civil rights denying Kim Davis is in jail and gay couples are getting valid marriage licenses in her absence. Its a win/win situation!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

September 07, 2015 2:07 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Religious liberty looks a lot like intolerance from here

“To me,” she said in a statement, “this has never been a gay or lesbian issue. It is about marriage and God’s word. It is a matter of religious liberty.”

It’s telling that Kim Davis chose those words to defend herself last week. Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, a rural, impoverished and previously obscure patch of northeastern Kentucky, made international headlines for her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She had, should it need saying, not a legal leg to stand on, the Supreme Court having ruled in June that states may not bar such couples from marrying. On Thursday, Davis was jailed for contempt. The thrice-divorced clerk had said she was acting upon “God’s authority” and fighting for “religious liberty.”

The political right has long had a genius for wrapping noxious notions in code, which sounds benign and even noble. The “Patriot Act,” “family values” and “right to work” are fruits of that genius. “Religious liberty” is poised to become the right’s latest masterpiece, the “states’ rights” of the battle for a more homophobic America.

A few months ago, you will recall, “religious liberty” was claimed as the rationale for failed laws in Indiana and Arkansas that would have empowered businesses to refuse service to gay people. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Georgia lawmakers will introduce a new “religious liberty” bill there next year. Last week, Mike Huckabee praised Davis for “standing strong for religious liberty.” Chris Christie, while conceding the need to obey the law, spoke of the need to “protect religious liberty.”

As if religious liberty were seriously in danger in one of the most religiously tolerant nations on Earth.

September 07, 2015 2:29 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Of course, like all good code, this one hides its true meaning in the banality of its words. Most of us would likely support the right of Native Americans to ingest peyote in their religious rituals, or Jewish or Muslim inmates to grow beards. Some of us even believe no religious order can be required to ordain a woman, admit a congregant of a proscribed race or, yes, perform a same-sex marriage. We understand a core American principle that, within certain broad parameters, one’s right to practice one’s faith as one pleases is inviolable.

But “religious liberty” as defined by Davis and her supporters is about what happens in the wide world beyond those parameters, about whether there exists a right to deny ordinary, customary service and claim a religious basis for doing so. And there does not.

Davis is wrong for the same reasons Muslim cabbies in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., were wrong some years ago when they claimed a right to not carry passengers who had alcohol on them and Christian pharmacists were wrong when they claimed a right not to fill birth-control prescriptions. You have a right to your religious conscience. You do not have a right to impose your conscience upon other people.

And if conscience impinges that heavily upon your business or your job, the solution is simple: Sell the business or quit the job. Otherwise, serve your customers and keep your conscience out of their affairs.

Taken to its logical conclusion, it is not just gay men and lesbians who are threatened by the “religious liberty” movement, but all of us. Is it too much of a stretch to suggest that most of us probably run afoul of somebody’s reading of their religion in some way or another? Who would welcome a future where you couldn’t just enter a place and expect service but, rather, must read the signs to determine if it caters to people of your sexual orientation, marital status, religion or race?

We tried something like that once. It didn’t work.

Sadly, if people like Kim Davis have their way, we might be required to try it again. They call it “religious liberty.”

It looks like intolerance from here.

September 07, 2015 2:30 PM  
Anonymous Trump the RINO beats all dumb Dems said...

"If it was just a matter of escorting gay couples past Kim Davis to get their marriage licenses she wouldn't have been arrested either"

actually, there are no Federal marshals required at all

these gays could have simply driven ten minutes away where another Kentucky county clerk was happy to issue them a license

they didn't do that because gays aren't trying to gain practical goal of getting married

that's secondary

they want to hunt down every last dissenter and force them to recant

it would be very easy to do this as an interim measure until the legislature can change the method of issuing licenses to accommodate religious liberty

that's the way our society usually works

for example, conscientious objectors from pacifist religions had an accommodation with the government during the days of the draft to perform alternative community service

we are generally tolerant of other people's beliefs and try to find a way to get along

lunatic gay advocates want to change that

btw, SurveyUSA has a poll out today showing RINO Donald Trump leading every Democratic candidate in the general election

it also shows him getting 25% of the black vote, mainly because they approve of his stance on illegal immigration

they think 11 million criminals have been allowed into our country and have taken jobs that would have gone to them and suppressed wages

empirically, there is overwhelming evidence that they are correct

September 07, 2015 6:46 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "actually, there are no Federal marshals required at all
these gays could have simply driven ten minutes away where another Kentucky county clerk was happy to issue them a license".

Actually, its half an hour. Doing so is an egregious insult to gay couples. Kim Davis couldn't give a damn about serving people her religion considers sinners, she never refused to issue a license to previously divorced couples or couples of different religions, she simply wants to denegrate gay couples. It is absolutely trivial for Davis to sign a piece of paper, it means nothing to her, its a much bigger deal to force gay couples to leave their homes, accept being demeaned and go elsewhere.

Davis is not herself limited to only entering a same sex marriage, or compelled to engage in the sexual activity she considers objectionable. Her objection is that it is sinful for others to do so. Therefore the interference with her right to act in accordance with their religious belief is trivial or insubstantial, in that it is interference that does not threaten actual religious beliefs or conduct.

Davis was offered an accommodation: She could let her deputy clerks marry people, while she excuses herself from the process. She refused, saying she would interfere if she was released from jail. That indicates Davis doesn't just want to excuse herself from marrying same-sex couples, but wants to be able to impose her religious beliefs on her whole office — and, as a result, the entire county government. And it means the judge can't release Davis from jail if he wants to keep marriage licenses flowing, since she would stop deputy clerks from issuing licenses.

So Davis continues fighting — from jail. LGBTQ advocates expect these types of battles to continue for some time as opponents of same-sex marriages try to find a way to avoid the Supreme Court's landmark ruling. But it's going to be a difficult, if not impossible, fight for religious opponents: Courts have repeatedly found that officials and private citizens can't cite religious beliefs to essentially ignore laws that the government has a secular, compelling interest to enforce.

The National Organization Against Marriage argues that the Supreme Court and lower courts have violated the law by upholding same-sex couples' right to marry. At the root of this issue is the organization's belief that marriage can't be redefined and people can't be asked to violate their religious principles. Davis gives a face to that struggle, exemplifying the fear that an overreaching government will try to unconstitutionally enforce an agenda that violates people's religious beliefs.

But courts have been firm in deciding that government agencies have to carry out some of their legal duties regardless of individual officials' religious beliefs. As much as the Constitution protects Americans' right to worship as they please, it also establishes a separation between church and state — and that means government agencies can't justify institutional discrimination against gay people by citing their faith.

If the court were to allow Davis to refuse to do her job based on her religious beliefs it would open the floodgates for government servants to refuse to do all manner of duties based on their religious beliefs - it would be chaos. The judge in this case wisely refused to open that Pandora's box.


September 07, 2015 8:52 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

If Davis is allowed to refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples then all county clerks can do this and gay couples won't be able to get a marriage license anywhere. Government employees denying citizens their civil rights simply cannot be tolerated. If Davis doesn't want to issue marriage licenses to gay couples she doesn't have to, she can resign. No one is forcing her to do anything.

September 07, 2015 8:58 PM  
Anonymous to goose-stepping Priya said...

"Doing so is an egregious insult to gay couples"

well, insulting people "egregiously" is not very egregious is a place where people are used to free speech

driving a half hour?

oh, the hardship

there are. no doubt, residents of Rowan County who are closer to the county clerk of another county

and it would only be a temporary solution, until the legislature could accommodate the SCOTUS ruling

"It is absolutely trivial for Davis to sign a piece of paper"

depends what else the paper says

in this case, it would say she "approves" the marriage

I'm sure to a degenerate like lazy Priya, signing something false is no biggie

Davis has a sense of right and wrong

"its a much bigger deal to force gay couples to leave their homes, accept being demeaned and go elsewhere"

you actually, have to leave your house to get the license

I think gays are used to the idea that some people believe homosexuality is immoral so I don't any issue of being "demeaned" is relevant

and that's a good point

gays need to learn to accept that certain full-fledged members of society believe homosexuality is wrong

we are not a totalitarian state

September 07, 2015 10:59 PM  
Anonymous common decency said...

http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-must-kim-davis-be-jailed-1441666727

September 08, 2015 8:15 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

I said "It is absolutely trivial for Davis to sign a piece of paper"


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "depends what else the paper says in this case, it would say she "approves" the marriage"

It says no such thing. It says the couple meets the requirements to be married. Davis has no grounds to object to signing the license.


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "Davis has a sense of right and wrong".

Lol - B.S. She has no problem signing marriage licenses for people who've been divorced or are of different religions. She doesn't give a damn whether or not a marriage is a sin according to her religion, she only wants to insult gay and lesbians and do her best to deny them marriage licenses. If she could she'd prevent all gays and lesbians from getting marriage licenses, this isn't just about her not wanting to sign them. Her motivation is to stop gays and lesbians from marrying, she wants to force her religion on them. She wants to set a precident so that clerks all over the country can refuse to provide marriage licenses to gays and lesbians. This goes way beyond her not wanting to sign them.


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "I think gays are used to the idea that some people believe homosexuality is immoral so I don't any issue of being "demeaned" is relevant we are not a totalitarian state".

A totalitarian state is when the doctrines of people's religon are made superior to the law of the land and anyone can refuse service to the public on a ;whim. Its a trivial matter for Davis to sign the marriage licenses, it violates the conscience of gays and lesbians to tolerate their goverenment treating them as second class citizens.

Gays are used to some people thinking that but they shouldn't have to put up with the government demeaning them and treating them as second class citizens. This is no different than George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door to prevent black children from entering. Just like Kim Davis he said it was no problem for them to go to another school in a neighbourhood that might be closer to them and they should do that rather than force bible believing christians to accept them. George Wallace wanted to use the government to send the message to black children that they were inferior and unwanted, Davis is doing the same thing. Depriving citizens of their dignity like this can't be tolerated in either situation.

If the court allows Davis to refuse to do her job "for religious reasons" it opens the floodgates for civil servants across the nation to refuse to do their jobs "for" religious reasons - it'd be chaos. The judge in this case wisely refuses to open that pandora's box.

September 08, 2015 12:34 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Lazy Wyatt/bad anonymous doesn't want to do the work he's paid to do so he spends his workday surfing the internet reading ignorant right wing propaganda.

September 08, 2015 12:36 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "depends what else the paper says in this case, it would say she "approves" the marriage"

I wrote "It says no such thing. It says the couple meets the requirements to be married. Davis has no grounds to object to signing the license.".

That should have said "It says the couple meets the legal requirements for marriage. Wyatt/bad anonymous will no doubt say Davis doesn't believe they meet the requirements for marriage according to her religion but her religion is irrelevant, the U.S. is not a theocracy based on Davis's religion. The only thing that matters is that the couple meet the requirments of U.S. law to be married (and they do). That is what her signature affirms. She's free to disaprove of those marriages till the cows come home, but she has to sign those licenses or resign if she doesn't want to do so.

September 08, 2015 12:43 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

The four times married Davis clearly couldn't care less about what her religion says is a sin. The only time she cares is when it involves gays and lesbians - what a hypocrite!

September 08, 2015 12:52 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Davis and her supporters like Wyatt/bad anonymous couldn't be more disingenous when they claim Davis should have the "religious" freedom to refuse to sign these marriage licenses. If this was a Muslim clerk refusing to issue marriage licenses to heterosexual christian couples they'd be screeming bloody murder and demanding that he/she be fired, jailed, or forced to sign.

Once again, this has nothing to do with religious freedom or conscience, its solely about special privileges for anti-gay christians.

September 08, 2015 1:09 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Voters show little sympathy for Kim Davis

Just 26% of Likely U.S. Voters think an elected official should be able to a ignore a federal court ruling that he or she disagrees with for religious reasons. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 66% think the official should carry out the law as the federal court has interpreted it.

September 08, 2015 1:20 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Breaking news:

Judge Bunning has released Kim Davis from jail. Davis has agreed that she won't interfere with the marriage licenses being issued in Rowan County as they are being issued under the authority of Judge Bunning. In a magnanimous display Judge Bunning has agreed to let Davis go free as she can no longer stop the issuance of marriage licenses to same sex couples.

September 08, 2015 1:39 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Davis comes out of jail a loser on all accounts. She's been unable to stop the issuance of same sex marriage licenses in Rowan county and she was unable to set a precident of allowing county clerks across the country to deny marriage licenses to same sex couples. Her attempt to circumvent the law and prevent gay marriage has utterly failed.

September 08, 2015 1:46 PM  
Anonymous the judicial bully blinks said...

"Just 26% of Likely U.S. Voters think an elected official should be able to a ignore a federal court ruling that he or she disagrees with for religious reasons. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 66% think the official should carry out the law as the federal court has interpreted it."

obviously, everyone thinks she should have issued the license

that's not the issue

the issue is what recourse is there if she doesn't

as usual, lunatic gay advocates turned a PR advantage into a deficit by hype, overkill and bullying

it's because they could care less about getting married and are focused on an effort to force people who oppose homosexuality to recant

lunatic gay advocates need to learn to accept that certain full-fledged members of society believe homosexuality is wrong, and that will always be so

"Judge Bunning has released Kim Davis from jail. Davis has agreed that she won't interfere with the marriage licenses being issued in Rowan County as they are being issued under the authority of Judge Bunning."

she didn't agree to anything

"In a magnanimous display Judge Bunning has agreed to let Davis go free as she can no longer stop the issuance of marriage licenses to same sex couples"

magnanimous? if it's true that she couldn't stop his order to issue licenses, he never had any grounds to jail her to begin with

if the licenses he has ordered issued are valid (which they aren't), he has no excuse for persecuting this woman

"Davis comes out of jail a loser on all accounts"

you mean from all that money raised on her behalf so that she doesn't have to work a day in the rest of her life?

I bet a certain sofa spud in Saskatchewan would love to "lose" like that!!

"She's been unable to stop the issuance of same sex marriage licenses in Rowan county"

she didn't try that

she said she wouldn't participate and she couldn't be forced to violate her principles

"and she was unable to set a precident of allowing county clerks across the country to deny marriage licenses to same sex couples"

there's no evidence she tried to do that

also, dumb-bunny Priya is a poor speller

"Her attempt to circumvent the law and prevent gay marriage has utterly failed"

she did circumvent a bad SCOTUS ruling and she didn't try to prevent gay marriage

you may remember I predicted she would be released soon

lazy Priya scoffed

she was actually let out because Huckabee and Cruz were both planning to visit her in jail today and the judge was scared he was going to look bad

"LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- After five days behind bars, county clerk Kim Davis was ordered released from jail Tuesday by the judge who locked her up for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning lifted the contempt order but directed Davis not to interfere with the granting of licenses by her deputies.

The move came down just before Davis was to receive jailhouse visits from presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz.

Davis was thrown in jail on Thursday, becoming a hero for the boldest act of resistance by a public official yet to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that legalized gay marriage across the nation.

Outside the jail where Davis was held, word spread slowly through a crowd of supporters in the afternoon.

Davis, an apostolic Christian, says that gay marriage is a sin and that it would be against her conscience to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple."

September 08, 2015 2:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"she did circumvent a bad SCOTUS ruling and she didn't try to prevent gay marriage

you may remember I predicted she would be released soon"


She most certainly did try to prevent gay marriage in Rowan County, Kentucky.

"Kim Davis was ordered released from jail Tuesday by the federal judge who locked her up for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

As a condition of her release on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered Davis not to interfere with the issuing of marriage licenses by her office.

Five of Davis' six deputy clerks - all except her son, Nathan Davis - agreed to issue licenses to gay couples with Davis behind bars. In lifting the contempt order, Bunning asked for updates on the five clerks' compliance every two weeks.

Judge Bunning said he is satisfied that the county clerk’s office is now complying with the court’s ruling. He also ordered that Davis “shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples” in Rowan County. If she does interfere, Bunning wrote, the court will consider “appropriate sanctions.”


"she was actually let out because Huckabee and Cruz were both planning to visit her in jail today and the judge was scared he was going to look bad"

Bulloney. Judge Bunning may very well send her back to jail if she interferes with her deputy clerks doing her job for her.

And President Huckabee and Canuckish Cruz were late to the game. Who thinks that's because Davis is a Democrat?

"Following the new order from Bunning, Huckabee arrived at the jail to visit with Davis, who was elected as a Democrat. Republican presidential contender and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also appeared outside of the detention center."

September 08, 2015 4:28 PM  
Anonymous the bully backs down said...

"She most certainly did try to prevent gay marriage in Rowan County, Kentucky"

she only asked that her name not be on the license

she told her clerks not to prepare such licenses

the licenses since she has been in jail were altered to remove her name

that's what she requested to begin with

there was never any reason to imprison her

it was overkill by a judicial bully who needs to step down

"Bulloney. Judge Bunning may very well send her back to jail if she interferes with her deputy clerks doing her job for her"

interfere in what way? the conditions of the judge is what's bulloney

he's in complete control, supported by the local law enforcement

he's just trying to save face since his over reach has been denounced nationwide

"And President Huckabee and Canuckish Cruz were late to the game. Who thinks that's because Davis is a Democrat?"

I haven't heard a soul say such an asinine thing

it's more than coincidence that the court released her the same hour the candidates were scheduled to arrive

September 08, 2015 6:03 PM  
Anonymous Mr Simon Agree said...

that is more than a coincidence!!

September 08, 2015 6:32 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "as usual, lunatic gay advocates turned a PR advantage into a deficit by hype, overkill and bullying".

LOL, the vast majority of Americans polled said she doesn't have the right to refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples and she must do it. Over 60% of Americans say gay marriage should be legal. The support of Huckabee and Cruz for this bigotry puts the Republican party in opposition to the vast majority of Americans, this is very bad PR for the Republican party.


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "it's because they could care less about getting married and are focused on an effort to force people who oppose homosexuality to recant".

This is no different than George Wallace standing in the doorway of a school trying to prevent black children from entering. Like Davis he insisted it was no big deal for those children to go to a different school and they were violating bigots religious freedom by insisting they go there. He tried to demean and deny the dignity of black children in the same way Davis tried to demean and deny the dignity of gays and lesbians. In both cases the rule of law triumphed and those black children got to go to the school of their choice and gay and lesbian couples got to get their marriage licenses from the county they reside in.


I said "Judge Bunning has released Kim Davis from jail. Davis has agreed that she won't interfere with the marriage licenses being issued in Rowan County as they are being issued under the authority of Judge Bunning."


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "she didn't agree to anything".

She most certainly did. If she had insisted she was going to interfere with the issuance of marriage licenses the judge wouldn't have let her out.

September 08, 2015 6:55 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...


I said "In a magnanimous display Judge Bunning has agreed to let Davis go free as she can no longer stop the issuance of marriage licenses to same sex couples"


Wuatt/bad anonymous said "magnanimous? if it's true that she couldn't stop his order to issue licenses, he never had any grounds to jail her to begin with".

She was preventing Rowan county from issuing marriage licenses. That interference has stopped and marriage licenses are being issued therefore there is no longer a necessity to keep her in jail. If she goes back on her word and tries to stop the issuance of marriage licenses she will be subject to being re-incarcerated and charged with criminal contempt of court.


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "if the licenses he has ordered issued are valid (which they aren't), he has no excuse for persecuting this woman".

If the licenses weren't valid without her signature he wouldn't have let her out of jail, she'd still be in contempt of court for refusing a court order. As the licenses are now being issued the county is in compliance with the law and so there is no longer a reason to keep her in jail. She could change that.


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "you mean from all that money raised on her behalf so that she doesn't have to work a day in the rest of her life?".

Only trivial amounts of money were raised until those fundrasing sites suspended the fundraising due to the effort violating their anti-discrimination clauses. Its irrelevant in any event as law abiding citizens couldn't care less if the bigots want to redistribute their wealth to give it to her - there's no net gain for the bigots and marriage licenses are now being issued which was the goal all along.

September 08, 2015 6:55 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

I said "She's been unable to stop the issuance of same sex marriage licenses in Rowan county"

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "she didn't try that she said she wouldn't participate and she couldn't be forced to violate her principles".

She did everything she could to do that. She prevented her deputies from issuing marriage licenses even though that didn't require her "participation". This was never about her "violating" her "principles". That was just an excuse for a desperate attempt to stop gays and lesbians from marrying and to send the message to them that they are second class citizens. If Davis had any religiously based principles she would have refused ot issue marriage licenses to divorced couples or couples who weren't of her religion. If this was about sin the four times married Davis would have had her present marriage annulled as only her first one was valid. Davis is a hypocrite, this was always about bigotry, not religious freedom.

I said "and she was unable to set a precident of allowing county clerks across the country to deny marriage licenses to same sex couples"

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "there's no evidence she tried to do that".

The evidence that she tried to do that is that she wouldn't let her deputies issue marriage licenses even though that took her out of the process. She tried to force her religion on the whole office, the only reason for doing that was to try to create a precident of allowing clerks across the country to deny marriage licenses to gay couples. And that's exactly what would have happened if Judge Bunning had allowed her to prevent the county from issuing marriage licenses.

September 08, 2015 6:55 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

I said "Her attempt to circumvent the law and prevent gay marriage has utterly failed"


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "she did circumvent a bad SCOTUS ruling and she didn't try to prevent gay marriage".

LOL, Rowan county is now issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples. The county is now in compliance with the U.S. supreme court ruling - kim davis failed miserably.


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "you may remember I predicted she would be released soon lazy Priya scoffed she was actually let out because Huckabee and Cruz were both planning to visit her in jail today and the judge was scared he was going to look bad".

LOL, you asserted with certainty the court order that Rowan county issue marriage licenses would be overturned on appeal being too stupid to realize she had exhausted all her appeals all the way to the supreme court. The court order remains in effect and cannot be overturned as the Supreme court refused to take up the case. She was released because the plaintiffs in the case just reported they had received their marriage licenses in Rowan County and therefor reason for jailing her is no longer in effect. Huckabee and Cruz's grandstanding had no effect on this and will have no effect if she goes back on her word and interferes with the issuance of marriage licenses in Rowan county - she'll be subject to being re-incarcerated and being charged with criminal contempt of court.

September 08, 2015 6:56 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "Davis, an apostolic Christian, says that gay marriage is a sin and that it would be against her conscience to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple.".

LOL, its also a sin to divorce and remarry but Davis did it four times. Its also a sin to marry couples outside of her religion but she never denied marriage licenses to "sinners" other than gay couples. She's a hypocrite. If she was worried about sinful marriages she'd have her current one annulled as according to her religion only her first marriage is valid.

I said ""She most certainly did try to prevent gay marriage in Rowan County, Kentucky"


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "she only asked that her name not be on the license she told her clerks not to prepare such licenses the licenses since she has been in jail were altered to remove her name that's what she requested to begin with".

Wrong. She insisted througout that licenses without her name on them were not valid. It was never a matter of just not having her name on the licenses, she wanted to prevent the issuance of licenses even when they didn't have her name on them, her name being on them was irrelevant to her, she just wanted to deny marriage licenses to as many gay couples as possible either directly, or by setting a precident so other county offices could deny marriage licenses to gay couples. This was always about demeaning gay couples, it never had anything to do with her "religious" beliefs or religious "freedom".

The U.S. first amendment requires the government to be religiously neutral. As a government employee insisting her religion be allowed to deny others their civil rights she was violating the first amendment by having the government force her religion on others. Religious freedom requires that the government not force religious tests on citizens in order to get service in any given office.

September 08, 2015 6:57 PM  
Anonymous she twists in the wind said...

Hillary has finally admitted responsibility. Now, she needs to accept accountability and resign. No way we can have a President who can't be trusted with confidential information.

"WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton apologized Tuesday for her use of a private email account after declining since last week to express remorse for the State Department arrangement that has shaken her presidential campaign.

Asked about setting up the private email account by ABC News, Clinton said, "That was a mistake. I'm sorry about that. I take responsibility."

The Democratic presidential candidate declined to apologize for using a private email system when asked directly by NBC News on Friday, saying she was "sorry that this has been confusing to people." In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, she said an apology wasn't necessary because what she did was "allowed" by the State Department."


September 08, 2015 7:04 PM  
Anonymous judicial bully blinks said...

as usual, lazy Priya twists facts, extrapolates and assumes

this is common among liberals who rarely find anything to reinforce their worldview

"the vast majority of Americans polled said she doesn't have the right to refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples and she must do it"

yes they do, but stupid Priya doesn't understand how America works

very few people think that jail or any type of penalty is due this woman

the law in Kentucky simply needs to be changed so that those with religious convictions opposed to perverted "marriages" don't have to certify them

the majority of Americans DON'T endorse jail sentences for such a circumstance

and, under the Civil Rights Act, the answer is never that someone should have to resign from their job over such a conflict

September 08, 2015 7:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"its also a sin to divorce and remarry but Davis did it four times. Its also a sin to marry couples outside of her religion but she never denied marriage licenses to "sinners" other than gay couples. She's a hypocrite"

this f'ed up reasoning has been circling the internet and is completely non sequitur

she would only be a hypocrite if she refused to marry previously divorced couples

the idea that homosexuality is immoral is not limited to Christians, or even religious people

it has been held by virtually all societies and cultures throughout history until very recently, even atheist ones like the USSR or Red China

September 08, 2015 7:27 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "Priya twists facts, extrapolates and assumes

very few people think that jail or any type of penalty is due this woman"

LOL, you're the one twisting facts, extrapolating and assuming.

You have NO idea how many Americans think jail or any type of penalty is due. As usual you just pull stuff out of your butt and assert its true.

The Rasmussen poll I linked to shows just 26% of Likely U.S. Voters think an elected official should be able to a ignore a federal court ruling that he or she disagrees with for religious reasons. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 66% think the official should carry out the law as the federal court has interpreted it. Now its true that some of those people don't think she should be jailed for breaking the law but we don't know how many. Almost certainly the vast majority of those who think a government official should carry out the law as the federal court has interpreted it thinks there should be some sort of penalty for not doing so - that's just common sense.

Oh Yeah, and another thing:

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "you mean from all that money raised on her behalf so that she doesn't have to work a day in the rest of her life?".

In addition to wanting to send a message to gays and lesbians that she considers them evil and inferior, that's the other major motivation for Kim Davis to resfuse to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. She was hoping to become a bigot celebrity and reap a windfall of cash for sticking it to the gays, just like the owners of that Indiana pizzaria and the flourists who wouldn't serve a gay couple did.

This was never about Kim Davis's "religious freedom", it was about spitting on gays and lesbians and getting a cash windfall for doing so.


September 08, 2015 7:37 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "she would only be a hypocrite if she refused to marry previously divorced couples".

Wow! Your mind is really messed up! How stupid can a person be?!

She claimed this was a heaven and hell issue, that it was a sin for gay couples to marry and therefore she wouldn't give them a marriage license. If she'd have refused to give divorced couples a marriage license that would have been consistent with her stand on same sex couples. But she issued marriage licenses to divorced couples even though that's a sin according to the bible -Jesus said so! So, she only cares about witholding marriage licenses from "sinners" when those "sinners" are same sex couples, sinning divorced couples, no problem! Hypocrite!

Have you been drinking Wyatt/bad anonymous?

That was incredibly stupid even for you.

September 08, 2015 7:43 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

And Wyatt, she's a hypocrite for not having her fourth marriage annulled because according to her bible only the first is valid.

And she's a hypocrite for not refusing to issue marriage licenses to couples not of her religion. That's a sin according to her religion too.

Hypocrite!

September 08, 2015 7:45 PM  
Anonymous the thinkster said...

lazy Priya

whether Kim Davis is right or wrong, she is only a hypocrite if she does something and then criticizes others for doing it

further, I don't think you understand the biblical position on homosexuality, divorce, or inter-faith marriage

but neither do many others, including many Christians

the point is not who's correct but whether they are sincere in what position they espouse

I know that's inconvenient for a-holes like you to seek to demagogue more than understand

no one needs a poll

everyone thinks Kim Davis should have just signed the license

it's what I would do, and I'm not exactly Mr Pro-Rainbow

but everyone also agrees Kim Davis doesn't belong in jail

especially when we talk about amnesty for 11 million criminals who have done real harm by taking jobs from out poorer citizens and suppressing minority wages

and we have a President who hasn't done his duty to stop these people and, instead, has arbitrarily decided not to enforce the law

if Kim Davis belongs in jail, why wouldn't Barack Obama?

Americans think both should have done their duty and neither belongs in jail

September 08, 2015 11:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Should the Kim Davises of the country be allowed to refuse marriage licenses to divorced people because Jesus spoke against divorce? Or deny licenses to interracial couples because of the story of Ham? Or stone rebellious children because of Deuteronomy?

The reason we separate Church and State is because the Founding Fathers believed government should be guided by a balance of morality and reason, not blind religious faith.

There are about 35 major Christian denominations in the U.S. Various denominations don’t always agree with each other on what the proper moral action is in the same situation. Then we add in all the other religions and belief systems in our country—all protected by the Constitution—and we see why we don’t go to any one religion to decide what should be legal.

The Orthodox Jewish clerk at the DMV cannot deny you a driver’s license because you eat ham. The Muslim clerk at the Social Security office can’t deny you benefits because you drink liquor. The Christian Scientist clerk at the IRS cannot audit your taxes because you chose medical help. Practice your religion in freedom; just don’t make everyone else practice your religion.

When politicians support Davis in defying the U.S. Supreme Court, they are making it clear why they should never be elected to any office, let alone the Presidency of the United States where they would take the oath to “support and defend the Constitution” since they are emphatically telling America that they wouldn’t support and defend it. They have announced that if you sincerely disagree with the Constitution, feel free to ignore it. And not just ignore it, make sure to use your position so that others are barred from following it.

September 09, 2015 8:03 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It’s pointless to question Davis’ sincerity, because there’s no way to determine whether she’s a pious zealot or savvy businesswoman looking to cash in on her notoriety. We can’t always tell the difference between a true believer and an arrogant ideologue. We sometimes confuse the devout with the delirious, the spiritual with the stubborn. We love people who “stick to their guns.” The phrase itself refers to soldiers who keep firing no matter the odds or personal danger. Stories of self-sacrificing heroes dominate our storytelling. “Remember the Alamo!” “Are you not entertained!” “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!” If you can identify all these cinema exclamations, then you are familiar with pop culture’s canon of martyrdom. (If you’re not: The Alamo, Gladiator, Braveheart.) But sticking to your guns for an ignoble cause makes you a fool, a criminal and a traitor to the principles of the Constitution. The gathering of Davis’ supporters and their anti-American signs are no different from the “Death to America” rallies we see in some foreign countries.

If Davis really was defending her soul against doing something immoral, then she shouldn’t have taken a government job that required her to issue marriage licenses to people she doesn’t approve of. Though she tries to fashion herself as a modern-day civil rights leader (her attorney has compared her to Dr. King), she’s no Rosa Parks. Instead, she’s the bus driver maintaining the status quo of injustice while forcing all the passengers to go where she takes them, not where they want to go. This country offers many options to those who are not satisfied with our laws. She could petition her legislators, she could become an activist, she could organize protests. She could even quit her job rather than compromise her spiritual principles. Quitting would have been more in keeping with martyrdom because by definition it requires sacrifice with no hope for personal reward. But there’s no celebrity in that.

We use religious moral principles to guide us, and reason to create the law that reflects those principles. Realizing that they may have been somewhat blinded by being the products of their times, the Founding Fathers made sure we could change the laws, as long as we stayed within the spirit of the Constitution. Once the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether or not a law is constitutional, then that’s the law of the land until the Constitution is amended. If the majority of the people want it amended then it will be. That’s the democracy we’re always celebrating on the Fourth of July and bragging about to other countries. However, if we get to break any law we don’t personally believe in, we will have destroyed the country. It’s shocking to me that anyone supports government officials overriding the Constitution to impose their personal beliefs on the people. It’s especially shocking when those who want to be president advocate it.





From: Time Magazine -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Kim Davis Is Not a Patriot

September 09, 2015 8:34 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "whether Kim Davis is right or wrong, she is only a hypocrite if she does something and then criticizes others for doing it".

Nonsense. If I say Davis should be jailed for disobeying a court order and then say a lesbian shouldn't be jailed for disobeying a court order I'm a hypocrite even though I haven't done anything.

Kim Davis says she refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because gayness is a sin. She does issue marriage licenses to divorced couples and non-christian couples which is also a sin. That makes her a hypocrite. Further, according to the bible only Davis's first marriage is valid therefore its a sin for her to be living with her fourth husband. That makes her a double hypocrite. If she was sincere about this she wouldn't be issuing marriage licenses to divorced couples, non-christian couples, and she wouldn't be living in sin with her fourth husband.


Wyatt/bad anonymous said "further, I don't think you understand the biblical position on homosexuality, divorce, or inter-faith marriage".

LOL, you're well aware that I understand it perfectly well and its beneath you to try and wiggle out of it with such a lie. The bible is perfectly clear on all such topics, all are sins, in fact, inter-faith marriage is even in one of the commandments (thou shalt have no other gods before me) and Jesus was unequivocal that divorce is not allowed. Davis is a hypocrite on two fronts.

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "the point is not who's correct but whether they are sincere in what position they espouse".

Oh puhleeeze. Davis is well aware that divorce is a sin and its sin for her to be living with her fourth husband - she's obviously not sincere in the slightest about it being important to her to deny marriage licenses to gay couples "because its a sin". This has nothing to do with "sin", she was motivated to do this for three reasons and three reasons only:

1) to spit on gay couples
2) to creat a precident that would allow clerks across the nation to prevent gay marriages.
3) to get a big cash windfall for spitting on gay couples.

They don't come any more insincere than Davis (well, excluding you).

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "everyone thinks Kim Davis should have just signed the license but everyone also agrees Kim Davis doesn't belong in jail".

Oh puhleeeeze. Thats an incredibly pathetic lie no one believes. Obviously many people think she shouldn't have signed the marriage license and many people think she should be in jail. We don't know precisely how many, but its obviously not no one as you so childlishly assert.

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "especially when we talk about amnesty for 11 million and we have a President who hasn't done his duty to stop these people and, instead, has arbitrarily decided not to enforce the law if Kim Davis belongs in jail, why wouldn't Barack Obama?".

Yawn.

Oh, that tired old right wing lie. Obama has deported more illegal immigrants than any other president. Its just standard right wing B.S. that he's not enforcing the law. He's enforcing the law to a greater degree than any president before him has. But Republicans like you don't have the integrity to stop lying about it.

September 09, 2015 11:47 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

In Luke 16:18 Jesus says:

"Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."


No outs, no exception. So, even the ten commandments prohibits divorce.

Davis is a hypocrite.

Wyatt/bad anonymous is stupid, childish, and a liar.

September 09, 2015 11:58 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

If this was a Muslim marriage clerk refusing to issue a marriage license to a christian opposite sex couple you'd hear christians like Wyatt/bad anonymous screaming bloody murder and demanding that the Muslim clerk be fired, forced to do her job, or put in jail instead of absurdly claiming he or she should be allowed to "not support christianity". Once again, this isn't a matter of principle for christians like Wyatt/bad anonymous, its about special privileges for anti-gay christians.

This is no different than George Wallace standing in the doorway of a school trying to prevent black children from entering. Like Davis he insisted it was no big deal for those children to go to a different school and they were violating bigots religious freedom by insisting they go there. He tried to demean and deny the dignity of black children in the same way Davis tried to demean and deny the dignity of gays and lesbians. In both cases the rule of law triumphed and those black children got to go to the school of their choice and gay and lesbian couples got to get their marriage licenses from the county they reside in.


September 09, 2015 12:19 PM  
Anonymous LP has been so wrong, for so long said...

"If I say Davis should be jailed for disobeying a court order and then say a lesbian shouldn't be jailed for disobeying a court order I'm a hypocrite even though I haven't done anything."

perhaps, but we've been discussing actions here

I'm assuming everyone in the discussion supports free speech

"Kim Davis says she refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because gayness is a sin"

actually, she's doing it because homosexual relationships don't qualify as potential marriages

she's supporting the institution of marriage from being watered down

I don't think I've heard her say she is not issuing licenses because "gayness is a sin"

"he does issue marriage licenses to divorced couples and non-christian couples which is also a sin. That makes her a hypocrite"

only if you make two fallacious assumptions:

1. she is not issuing licenses because "gayness is a sin"
2. she believes marriage for divorced people or non-Christians is a sin

"Further, according to the bible only Davis's first marriage is valid therefore its a sin for her to be living with her fourth husband. That makes her a double hypocrite. If she was sincere about this she wouldn't be issuing marriage licenses to divorced couples, non-christian couples, and she wouldn't be living in sin with her fourth husband.

LOL, you're well aware that I understand it perfectly well and its beneath you to try and wiggle out of it with such a lie. The bible is perfectly clear on all such topics, all are sins, in fact, inter-faith marriage is even in one of the commandments (thou shalt have no other gods before me) and Jesus was unequivocal that divorce is not allowed. Davis is a hypocrite on two fronts.

Oh puhleeeze. Davis is well aware that divorce is a sin and its sin for her to be living with her fourth husband - she's obviously not sincere in the slightest about it being important to her to deny marriage licenses to gay couples "because its a sin".

In Luke 16:18 Jesus says:

"Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."

No outs, no exception. So, even the ten commandments prohibits divorce.

Davis is a hypocrite"

Priya, you don't understand the woman's motives, and you don't understand the context of the Sermon on the Mount, much less the rest of the Bible

this is not a forum adequate to explain it to you

my suggestion, if you'd like to understand it, is to see your local reformed pastor

don't worry he won't try to convert you

he'll just explain it and trust God for the rest

September 09, 2015 3:41 PM  
Anonymous LP has been so wrong, for so long!! said...


"This has nothing to do with "sin", she was motivated to do this for three reasons and three reasons only:

1) to spit on gay couples
2) to creat a precident that would allow clerks across the nation to prevent gay marriages.
3) to get a big cash windfall for spitting on gay couples"

making stupid assumptions makes you look stupid

so does misspelling:

"creat a precident"

two outta three is bad

guess you couldn't figure out a way to misspell "a"

"Oh puhleeeeze. Thats an incredibly pathetic lie no one believes. Obviously many people think she shouldn't have signed the marriage license and many people think she should be in jail. We don't know precisely how many, but its obviously not no one as you so childlishly assert."

well, you're probably right

must be someone out there who agrees with this judicial bully

but I haven't met them and I know a number of open gays

haven't anyone other than you say "glad's she's in jail"

"Yawn"

out of arguments again?

"Oh, that tired old right wing lie. Obama has enforced the law to a greater degree than any president before him has"

seriously?

when he doesn't like a law and can't get Congress to change it, he breaks it

"If this was a Muslim marriage clerk refusing to issue a marriage license to a christian opposite sex couple you'd hear bloody murder"

if she was an elected clerk, we'd find a work around for her

it's required by the Civil Rights Act

for example: Muslim stewardesses don't feel they can serve alcohol. Because of the Civil Rights Act, they aren't fired. A non-Muslim stewardess is always on-board to provide the service. It's a fact!

"This is no different than George Wallace standing in the doorway of a school trying to prevent black children from entering. Like Davis he insisted it was no big deal for those children to go to a different schoolthose black children got to go to the school of their choice and gay and lesbian couples got to get their marriage licenses from the county they reside in"

it's completely different

the issue in segregated schools was the quality

marriage licenses are fungible and all of equal quality

September 09, 2015 3:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"for example: Muslim stewardesses don't feel they can serve alcohol. Because of the Civil Rights Act, they aren't fired. A non-Muslim stewardess is always on-board to provide the service. It's a fact!"

No lie is too much for you to tell is it?

Muslim Flight Attendant Says She's Suspended For Not Serving Alcohol

"A Muslim flight attendant for ExpressJet is fighting to be reinstated after she says the airline suspended her for refusing to serve alcohol.

In a complaint filed last week with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Charee Stanley said the carrier had revoked a reasonable arrangement made to accommodate her religious beliefs.

Stanley's lawyer, Lena Masri of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Michigan chapter, told The Huffington Post Monday that Stanley approached her superiors in June about how she could avoid serving alcohol to passengers because she recently discovered that Islamic law forbids it.

The airline told her to make a deal with fellow flight attendants so they could provide the beverages, Masri said. The arrangement seemed to be working smoothly until a coworker complained to the airline in early August that Stanley had been delinquent in her duties because she refused to serve the cocktails. The complaint also noted that Stanley "had a book with foreign writings and wore a headdress," CNN wrote.

In late August the airline notified Stanley, an employee of three years who became a Muslim about two years ago, that the accommodation had been revoked. ExpressJet placed her on unpaid leave for 12 months, Masri said. She was also threatened with termination, the lawyer added…


"making stupid assumptions makes you look stupid

so does misspelling:

"creat a precident""


And how do you feel about commenters leaving out entire words like you did here:

"haven't anyone other than you say "glad's she's in jail""

I believe you meant to say:

"haven't HEARD anyone other than you say "glad's she's in jail""

Your personal attacks don't win any arguments.

It's good you can proofread Priya Lynn's comments to find her errors (though skipping the personal attacks would make you look better). Maybe you'll start proofreading your own comment and finding your own errors too.

We all make them.

Perhaps you will come to realize how many things we all have in common.

September 09, 2015 8:04 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Kim Davis's persecution

September 09, 2015 8:47 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

The vast majority of Americans get how a government official is REQUIRED to treat ALL citizens equally.

September 09, 2015 8:55 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

There's nothing more disingenous than people who claim they oppose gayness for religious reasons. The truth is these people don't give a damn about most of what their bible calls a sin. They just offer religion as a reason because they think it gives legitimacy to their unjustifiable bigotry. They don't want to just come out and say "I think gays are icky" or admit that the oppose gay marriage because it makes those people they look down upon their equals. They see letting gays get married as taking away their superiority to gays, as lowering their status in society to the same level as disgusting scum and that really offends them.

That's why people like Kim Davis are so excited about getting the opportunity to deny gays their civil rights. The delight in using the government to spit on gay couples and remind them that they consider them dirt.

September 09, 2015 9:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mika Brzezinski tears into hypocritical Mike Huckabee for refusing to answer a simple question about marriage in the Bible: The former Arkansas governor danced around the issue of Kim Davis' divorces and their biblical justification

"On “Morning Joe” Wednesday, non-titular co-host Mika Brzezinksi engaged Republican presidential candidate and Kim Davis-supporter extraordinaire Mike Huckabee in a conversation he clearly didn’t want to have about the biblical justification for discriminating against same-sex marriage while allowing divorcees to remarry at will.

“What if Kim Davis wanted to get a third or fourth marriage license from somebody who truly believes that you should only get married once?” Brzezinki asked. “What would you say to that?”

“Kim Davis,” he replied, “she’s actually been married four times.”

“That’s my point,” Brzezinki said.

“Maybe you don’t know that she’s been married four times,” Huckabee continued, showcasing his listening skills for potential voters. “She’s a person who says, ‘I lived a very different life, a life of sin.’ Four years ago, Kim Davis came to Christ, found forgiveness and the reason that she is so steadfast and unwavering in her faith is because she knows what God’s grace means. She’s experienced it. And as a result, she says I can’t ever go back and live that life again and the God who forgave me compels me to follow my faith.”

An unimpressed Brzezinki replied, “that’s not an answer to my question.”

Joe Scarborough jumped in at this point, noting that “Jesus focused a lot more on divorce, focused a lot more on lust, focused a lot more on the poor, focused a lot more on clothing the naked, visiting people in jail, taking care of the hopeless than he did on homosexuality. In fact, he never mentioned homosexuality.”

“You can read the text of the gospel and what Jesus Christ said,” he continued, “and there’s a lot more condemnation for people like myself who have been divorced than there is condemnation for people that participate in the gay lifestyle.”

Huckabee replied, “homosexual marriage was not an issue in the First Century,” to which Scarborough countered that that’s not the point. ” Jesus was much more explicit about divorce and you can much more easily make an argument that a judge would refuse to grant divorces because Jesus was far more explicit about divorce equaling adultery.”

But Brzezinski didn’t need her co-host to explain her question for her. “I asked you a question,” she said. “Would you support a clerk who would not give Kim Davis a third or a fourth marriage license?”

“I’m not sure if I follow that question,” Huckabee replied.

“If the court says, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t think you should get married more than once or twice’ and you’re asking for your third or fourth license,” she tried to reply, but the former Arkansas governor cut her off, claiming that she was “asking a question of a different nature.”

“No, I’m not,” she replied.

“That’s a different nature,” he said.

“No, it’s not,” she replied.

“Yes, it is,” he said. “There’s a difference between a marriage between a man and woman and a marriage between two men or a marriage between two women.”

Brzezinski, clearly tired of hearing his attempts to dodge her question, listened as he explained that “what we’re talking about is whether or not we can redefine marriage, not whether or not that a person can have more than one because the law clearly says what people can do. They can have a divorce. We laws for that. We have laws for marriage and remarriage.”…"

September 10, 2015 7:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"...She pointed out that “the law says you can get married now as a gay person,” to which he replied by asking, “What law is that? Can you quote me the statute? Can you quote me the specific statute or can you tell me and let me know which article of the Constitution that says that same-sex marriage is under the jurisdiction of the federal government?”

Huckabee never answered her question, but later explained his “logic” here, saying that “the point is if that hadn’t been legislated, if it never had been codified into law — we’re a people of law, not of politics. When the courts become political and when the courts begin to be the super legislative body, which is what has happened here, that’s a dangerous path on which we’re going to lose this great republic.”

Which explanation also, of course, doesn’t answer Brzenzinski’s question.

Watch the entire exchange, scroll down here"

September 10, 2015 7:06 AM  
Anonymous brilliant said...


brilliant anon:

"for example: Muslim stewardesses don't feel they can serve alcohol. Because of the Civil Rights Act, they aren't fired. A non-Muslim stewardess is always on-board to provide the service. It's a fact!"

moronic anon: "No lie is too much for you to tell is it?"

cut-and paste by moronic anon:

"A Muslim flight attendant for ExpressJet is fighting to be reinstated after she says the airline suspended her for refusing to serve alcohol.

In a complaint filed last week with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Charee Stanley said the carrier had revoked a reasonable arrangement made to accommodate her religious beliefs.

Stanley's lawyer, Lena Masri of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Michigan chapter, told The Huffington Post Monday that Stanley approached her superiors in June about how she could avoid serving alcohol to passengers because she recently discovered that Islamic law forbids it.

The airline told her to make a deal with fellow flight attendants so they could provide the beverages, Masri said. The arrangement seemed to be working smoothly until a coworker complained to the airline in early August that Stanley had been delinquent in her duties because she refused to serve the cocktails. The complaint also noted that Stanley "had a book with foreign writings and wore a headdress," CNN wrote.

In late August the airline notified Stanley, an employee of three years who became a Muslim about two years ago, that the accommodation had been revoked. ExpressJet placed her on unpaid leave for 12 months, Masri said. She was also threatened with termination, the lawyer added…"

what you miss from all this is that, far from lying, brilliant anon was making a point that has been missed

under the Civil Rights Act, employers are required to make reasonable arrangements to accommodate religious beliefs of their employees

that was why the airline did so

months later, it was revoked but the story is unclear and legal actions is being taken to address it

but the point remains: under the Civil Rights Act, employers are required to make reasonable arrangements to accommodate religious beliefs of their employees

in the case of Kim Davis, the accommodation was very easy: either take her name off the license, enact another method of issuing licenses, or simply have Rowan County residents get licenses from another county clerk (30 minutes away)

before you say the latter is unreasonable, consider that no one could make that objection if the county clerk's office was moved 30 minutes away within Rowan County

under no circumstances was jailing the county clerk justified

further, gays simply want to target this person and harass for her religious beliefs

note that gays from San Francisco are now flying to Rowan County to get married, just to push

note that gays have trouble getting along with others

September 10, 2015 10:41 AM  
Anonymous brilliant said...

"And how do you feel about commenters leaving out entire words like you did here:"

don't think I've ever criticized Priya for that

"Your personal attacks don't win any arguments.

It's good you can proofread Priya Lynn's comments to find her errors (though skipping the personal attacks would make you look better)."

Priya is the initiator of these attacks

I have tried many times to have a truce and only discuss the issues but Priya has been incapable of maintaining it

will try again, starting now

let's see how it goes

"There's nothing more disingenous than people who claim they oppose gayness for religious reasons"

this is, in itself, a highly disingenuous statement

I rarely bring religion into these discussions but instead have argued that homosexuality is a moral question not particular to any religion and has even been considered immoral by the large atheist societies of the 20th century

the response from TTFers is "oh, it's all about religion"

that's the way they want it so they can make separation of church and state arguments to confuse everyone

hence, the above is, in itself, a highly disingenuous statement

"They just offer religion as a reason because they think it gives legitimacy to their unjustifiable bigotry. They don't want to just come out and say "I think gays are icky""

in a couple of senses, you do have a point

1. people do use the Bible to reinforce cultural prejudices

2. people who commit violence against gays are not religious but rednecks who are looking to attack anyone who is different to inflate their own esteem, they imagine, among the mainstream

at the same time, two other things are true:

1. the Bible says homosexuality is immoral
2. so has every other religious or secular authority for millennia, until recently, and it is still so in most of the world

"Mika Brzezinski tears into hypocritical Mike Huckabee"

she had two questions:

1. does the Bible condemn divorce in an equivalent manner to homosexuality?

the answer is that different people disagree

arguing who is right is irrelevant since we live in a society where freedom of religion is a right

2. the other is whether it would alright if a county clerk refused to issue marriage licenses to divorced individuals based on religious belief

the answer is that it's irrelevant since the scenario hasn't occurred

but, if it did, the government would be required to seek a "reasonable accommodation" under the Civil Rights Act

September 10, 2015 11:08 AM  
Anonymous ya gotta laugh at the Dem dilemna said...

as of this morning, Sanders leads Clinton in both Iowa and New Hampshire

if Dems don't want to be running with a Socialist candidate, someone better talk to Biden or Jerry Brown

September 10, 2015 11:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"There's nothing more disingenous than people who claim they oppose gayness for religious reasons"

this is, in itself, a highly disingenuous statement

I rarely bring religion into these discussions but instead have argued that homosexuality is a moral question not particular to any religion and has even been considered immoral by the large atheist societies of the 20th century

the response from TTFers is "oh, it's all about religion""


You might want to read up on what Kim Davis and her attorney have been saying. Their arguments are all about religion.

By what authority did Ms. Davis deny gays their marriage licenses? -- GOD'S AUTHORITY.

And what did her attorney say? -- "She loves God, she loves people, she loves her work, and she will not betray any of those three," Staver said.

Except she willingly betrayed her job by refusing to do it.

Who wouldn't like to earn $80K a year for not doing their job?

"she [Mika Brzezinski] had two questions:

1. does the Bible condemn divorce in an equivalent manner to homosexuality?…

2. the other is whether it would alright if a county clerk refused to issue marriage licenses to divorced individuals based on religious belief"


Still having trouble with reading comprehension I see.

Here is Mika's question:

“What if Kim Davis wanted to get a third or fourth marriage license from somebody who truly believes that you should only get married once?” Brzezinki asked. “What would you say to that?”

And here are the statements Joe Scarborough made when Huckabee dodged Mika's question:

"Joe Scarborough jumped in at this point, noting that “Jesus focused a lot more on divorce, focused a lot more on lust, focused a lot more on the poor, focused a lot more on clothing the naked, visiting people in jail, taking care of the hopeless than he did on homosexuality. In fact, he never mentioned homosexuality.”

“You can read the text of the gospel and what Jesus Christ said,” he continued, “and there’s a lot more condemnation for people like myself who have been divorced than there is condemnation for people that participate in the gay lifestyle.”

Then Mika let the boys know she can speak for herself:

"But Brzezinski didn’t need her co-host to explain her question for her. “I asked you a question,” she said. “Would you support a clerk who would not give Kim Davis a third or a fourth marriage license?”

…Huckabee never answered her question."

Unlike your bogus claim, Mika didn't even mention the word "Bible" in the entire 16 minute and 19 second clip of the interview with President Huckabee. Joe Scarborough did.

September 10, 2015 1:12 PM  
Anonymous moon zoom said...

"You might want to read up on what Kim Davis and her attorney have been saying. Their arguments are all about religion"

yes, Kim Davis has said that issuing marriage licenses to homosexual partners is opposed to God's intention for marriage

but that's not "opposing gayness for religious reasons"

so, the person who said that would appear to addressing a more general group

"she willingly betrayed her job by refusing to do it.

Who wouldn't like to earn $80K a year for not doing their job?"

actually, the county clerk has a number of duties

issuing marriage licenses to gays wasn't the reason she was elected

as a matter of fact, gay marriage was not recognized in Kentucky when she was elected

her job is to represent her constituents

she couldn't, in good conscience approve gay marriage

there are over a hundred county clerks in Kentucky who will so her exercise of discretion didn't deprive anyone of any opportunity

didn't even burden these people

"Still having trouble with reading comprehension I see"

and you guys have the nerve to say I make personal attacks

while you can't simply make your point without making a personal insult

I'll go ahead and take the high road this time

"Unlike your bogus claim, Mika didn't even mention the word "Bible" in the entire 16 minute and 19 second clip of the interview with President Huckabee. Joe Scarborough did."

my mistake

nevertheless, that's clearly what was being discussed

not exactly a "bogus claim"

but we see again that the average TTFer can't make a counter-argument without making a insulting comment

September 10, 2015 2:01 PM  
Anonymous born under a bad sign said...

not a good sign when you're in the midst of a major scandal and one of your alleged co-conspirators takes the fifth

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/former-hillary-clinton-staffer-bryan-pagliano-pleads-fifth-213501

September 10, 2015 2:57 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous took a break from his weapons grade stupidity to request this song:


I've been cheated, been mistreated
When will I be loved

I've been put down, I've been pushed 'round
When will I be loved

When I find a new man that I want for mine
Always breaks my heart in two, it happens every time

I've been made blue, I've been lied to
When will I be loved

When I find a new man that I want for mine
Always breaks my heart in two, it happens every time

I've been cheated, been mistreated
When will I be loved
When will I be loved
Tell me when will I be loved


Read more: Linda Ronstadt - When Will I Be Loved? Lyrics | MetroLyrics

September 10, 2015 6:07 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

LOL, I write one little paragraph and Wyatt/bad anonymous posts 3 pages of desperate whining in response.

You know he can't come up with a rational response when he writes 3 pages of incoherent drivel.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

September 10, 2015 6:19 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Fox News's Shepard Smith is not buying the spin from Kentucky clerk Kim Davis and her lawyers.

In a segment after Davis's release from jail Tuesday, Smith slammed Davis — who refuses to let her office issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — and her supporters — who he described as "haters" — for what he characterized as hypocrisy:

When this started, this lawyer said he needed an accommodation for a woman who wanted one. She said she didn't want her name on a license for gay people. They couldn't come up with an accommodation. Now they've come up with one. They've let her out of jail. They said, "All right. You don't have to have your name on there. We'll just put name of the county there. All of this is done." But it's not what they want.

Smith is right that Davis has been repeatedly offered an accommodation for her "religious" beliefs — one that lets her office issue marriage licenses while she pulls out of the process. But her lawyer suggested that's not enough, arguing that licenses issued without Davis's name are invalid — even though Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins and Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said they are.

So Davis appears poised to continue refusing to issue marriage licenses when she goes back to work next Monday. To her, it seems like it wasn't ever enough to get an accommodation for herself. She wanted to be able to impose her religious beliefs on her whole office — and, as a result, the entire county government. That's not how religious liberty works.

September 10, 2015 7:27 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

How religious liberty is supposed to work

Here's how Davis's situation is supposed to work: If a same-sex couple shows up at a county clerk's office to get married, an individual official can refuse to grant them a license. But the official would have to hand the case over to another county staffer, who would then give the license to the couple. The issue is that individual government employees may refuse — based on alleged religious objections — to marry same-sex couples, but the county government as a whole has a compelling interest to accommodate the couple and avoid violating their constitutional right to marry.

So an individual county official can step aside to avoid issuing a marriage license to a same-sex couple, but the government has to find a way to issue a license to the couple in the end, and do so in a way that doesn't significantly slow down the process.

What's different in Kentucky is that Davis didn't step aside and say she wouldn't give out any marriage licenses, but instead ordered her entire office not to — even though some of her deputy clerks were reportedly willing to do so. Even after five of six deputy clerks publicly told a federal judge that they'd be willing to marry same-sex couples, Davis said she would block them from handing out the licenses if she was released from jail.

DAVIS DIDN'T STEP ASIDE AND SAY SHE WOULDN'T GIVE OUT ANY MARRIAGE LICENSES, BUT INSTEAD ORDERED HER ENTIRE OFFICE NOT TO

September 10, 2015 7:27 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

So Davis was given the option to step aside and let deputy clerks give people, including same-sex couples, marriage licenses while she took no part in it. She rejected that offer. She didn't just want an accommodation; she wanted to stop her entire staff from doing what she disapproves of on religious grounds.

Faced with this situation, US District Judge David Bunning concluded that the only way the county clerk's office can function — meaning fulfill its legal duty to grant marriage licenses — was to keep Davis in jail until she either resigned or agreed to let her staffers give marriage licenses. This is as productive as incarceration can get: Since Davis, as an elected official, can't be fired under the law, incapacitating her in jail was the only way to let the county government work.

In the end, Bunning allowed Davis's release from jail by enforcing this accommodation: Davis would be freed, but the release order warned that if she tried to interfere with her deputy clerks' issuance of marriage licenses, she would be punished again. So Davis doesn't have to "violate" her alleged religious principles and directly issue licenses to same-sex couples, but her office does — exactly how "religious" liberty is supposed to work.

But it appears Davis wants to continue trying to use her role as a government official to impose her "religious" views on others, including people on her own staff, in a way that discriminates against same-sex couples. That would clearly violate the separation of church and state enshrined in the Constitution, so it's no surprise that a federal court didn't allow it. And it might land Davis in jail — again.

September 10, 2015 7:27 PM  
Anonymous the Dem dilemna said...

Dems are in a lot of trouble

Joe Biden has decided not to jump in, for personal reasons

in CNN's latest poll, Hillary loses to Ben Carson by five, Jeb Bush by two, and is tied with Donald Trump

who can they turn to?

the alternatives are all funny:

Al (internet inventor) Gore, John (ketchup with the ayatollah) Kerry, Al (SNL clown) Franken, Elizabeth (Ugg-a-wugg) Warren...

I'm telling you guys: Jerry Brown is your best bet

September 11, 2015 7:51 AM  
Anonymous freedom tastes like reality said...

"How religious liberty is supposed to work"

always amusing when a Canadian tells us how religious liberty is supposed to work

just because Kim Davis says her views are motivated by religious belief, doesn't disqualify her views

homosexuality is not considered moral by most inhabitants of planet Earth today, regardless of their religious views

homosexuality has not been considered moral by most inhabitants of planet Earth throughout history, regardless of their religious views

people have different reasons for this, but religion is only one of them

freedom of religion means religious people can advocate for their point of view even if that view is motivated by religion

you are free, and aren't accountable to judges to explain it

gays are gong to have to get used to the fact that there are going be people who are full-fledged members of society and think that:

1. homosexuality is immoral
2. marriage is a relationship necessitating the involvement of both genders

September 11, 2015 8:03 AM  
Anonymous Mr. Simon Agree said...

"always amusing when a Canadian tells us how religious liberty is supposed to work"

I agree. That is very amusing!!

In Canada, the titular head of the Anglican church is on the money and they're going to lecture America on church-state relations?

September 11, 2015 9:37 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt, its long overdue that I give you a heartfelt thankyou. Thankyou for not having any children and passing on your defective genes and evil beliefs.

September 11, 2015 12:06 PM  
Anonymous it's topsy turvy day, kids!! said...

the kind of logic you get from a land with the head of the Anglican church on its money

let's see:

Priya recently expressed a desire to see a middle-aged woman rot in prison "for a long time" because the woman refused to approve of calling homosexual relationships marriage

and Priya calls the beliefs of others "evil"

ever read Orwell?

September 11, 2015 1:14 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "homosexuality is not considered moral by most inhabitants of planet Earth today, regardless of their religious views homosexuality has not been considered moral by most inhabitants of planet Earth throughout history, regardless of their religious views".

LOL, Wyatt/bad anonymous is ignorant of the logical fallacy "appeal to popularity". He childlishly thinks if a belief is popular it must be true. Poor, poor stupid Wyatt. Wyatt sweetheart, the popularity of an idea has no bearing on its truthfullness. There is a long and sordid history of popular ideas that have been dead wrong.

This never had anything to do with morality. It was always "Gays are icky so to suppress them let's make up a story about how its immoral and god doesn't approve.". There's two reasons people oppose gays. Either they're attacking their own unacceptable same sex attractions through innocent LGBT people (like Wyatt is doing), or they find gays icky (like Davis). Nowadays its no longer acceptable to say in polite compay "I think gays are disgusting" in so people use religion as a convenient excuse to attempt to justify their bigotry. They incorrectly think falsely claiming "its against my religion" gives legitimacy to their bigotry and makes their bigotry sound noble.

The reality is whether a person finds gayness icky or not has no bearing on its morality. As long as it doesn't hurt others its moral, icky or not. The people who wrote the bible didn't believe gayness was immoral either, they just put that in the bible because they needed something other than "I don't like it" to attempt to justify suppressing people who weren't hurting anyone.

Opposing gays has never been about religion. If Kim Davis was realy concerned about her religion she wouldn't be living in sin with her fourth husband, issuing marriage licenses to divorced couples, or issuing marriage licenses to non-christians or atheists. For her and her supporters this is solely about three things:

1)Spitting on gay couples
2)Trying to create a precedent that will maximize the interference with gay marriages
3)Trying to collect a huge bigotry reward for spitting on gay couples in the same way the owners of that Indiana pizzaria did.

September 11, 2015 1:16 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "Priya recently expressed a desire to see a middle-aged woman rot in prison "for a long time" because the woman refused to approve of calling homosexual relationships marriage ".

Yawn. Standard bigot's distortion.

I wanted to see her in prison for disobeying a court order, not because she refused to call gay marriages marriages. She's free to refuse to call gay marriages marriages until the cows come home, but she's not free to deny other's their civil rights as a government agent when the government must remain neutral on (so-called) religion.

If you'll recall I said I hope she's stubborn enough to refuse the judges order and remain in prison for a long time, I said I hope she chooses to stay in prison a long time.

But of course people like you don't have any valid arguments so you have to twist, distort, and lie about what the good people have said. Its the only way you can create the facade of a rational argument.

Trying to harm innocent people like you and Kim Davis are doing is evil. It is the height of morality for people like me to seek punishment for people like you who harm the innocent.

September 11, 2015 1:22 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Government employees perform a civil service and are not supposed to discriminate.
If the government allows Rown county to discriminate what’s there to stop another person in another department or another agency from saying, ‘Well, I don’t agree with this so I would like to opt out.’ The answer is you can’t. You are an agent of the government and you follow the laws.”

It really is that simple. Religious congregations are pretty much able to do what they want within their churches, but don’t get to make up new rules when they act as part of secular society [see: Catholic charities, that pavilion in New Jersey, etc.], this court case isn’t infringing on what churches are able to do and believe. It’s simply saying to people who work for the government, “You have a job you were hired to do, and these are the laws. Don’t like it? Get a new job.”

Kim Davis is not herself compelled to enter a same sex marriage or engage in the sexual activity she considers objectionable. Her objection is that it is sinful for others to do so. Therefore the interference with her right to act in accordance with her religious belief is trivial or insubstantial, in that it is interference that does not threaten actual religious beliefs or conduct.

Davis was magnanimously given the option to step aside and let deputy clerks give people, including same-sex couples, marriage licenses while she took no part in it. She rejected that offer. She didn't just want an accommodation; she wanted to stop her entire staff from doing what she disapproves of on "religious" grounds.

That is Davis trying to force her "religious" beliefs on the entire office. That is tyranny.


September 11, 2015 1:52 PM  
Anonymous Priya folds said...

hmmmm...Kim Davis hasn't done a thing to harm "innocent" people

by your definition, she is the zenith of morality

but you're saying she is evil because of something she isn't doing

in every other way, you always argued that as long as you don't do something to harm anyone, you're moral

here, you're saying neglecting to do something is immoral

so, by your new line of reasoning, we see that homosexuality is evil

marriages produce life

homosexual relationships, by definition, don't

by providing a pathway for a healthy fertile male to be married without the possibility of producing life, you are eliminating untold numbers of lives

this neglect could be argued to be evil

now that you've conceded someone can be evil by neglecting their duty, you've betrayed your long embraced hypocrisy and provided a rationale to characterize homosexuality as evil

and Kim Davis' neglect is good

September 11, 2015 1:59 PM  
Anonymous agenda unveiled said...

"Religious congregations are pretty much able to do what they want within their churches, but don’t get to make up new rules when they act as part of secular society"

actually, members of religious congregations have a right to vote and can make their decision on any rationale they choose

if they want to close businesses on Sunday, for example, and enough secular people agree to get a majority, that's the law

"Davis was magnanimously given the option to step aside"

that's not magnanimous

it's a violation of the Civil Rights Act

there are reasonable ways she could be accommodated

the judge unlawfully said "my way or the highway"

that's illegal

"she wanted to stop her entire staff from doing what she disapproves of on "religious" grounds.

That is Davis trying to force her "religious" beliefs on the entire office. That is tyranny."

actually, it's an employer-employee relationship

as long as she's responsible, they are her agents under the law

face it: all gays had to do was go to the next county

they didn't because they didn't want to be married all that bad

they just wanted to force an opponent to recant

this whole situation has unveiled the evil nature of the homosexual agenda

September 11, 2015 2:10 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "by your definition, she is the zenith of morality but you're saying she is evil because of something she isn't doing in every other way, you always argued that as long as you don't do something to harm anyone, you're moral".

By not giving them a marriage license she's denying them their civil rights. Having the government spit on you and treat you as inferior is harmful to people's mental health. Kim davis is harming innocent people, that's evil.

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "so, by your new line of reasoning, we see that homosexuality is evil marriages produce life homosexual relationships, by definition, don't".

What childish (and faulty) logic. The earth is overpopulated and the evergrowing population is going to cause a terrible shortage of earths finite resources and result in terrible suffering and a massive die-off of humanity. It is not automatically a good thing to have children and is arguably in this day and age a bad thing to have children. Gays and lesbians have fewer children on the whole than heterosexuals and more often than not are raising the children of heterosexual couples who couldn't or don't want to raise them. In this day and age there is arguably nothing more noble than the way gays and lesbians handle children.



I said "Davis was magnanimously given the option to step aside"

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "that's not magnanimous it's a violation of the Civil Rights Act there are reasonable ways she could be accommodated the judge unlawfully said "my way or the highway" that's illegal".

Nonsense. She initially claimed that she didn't want to partake in issuing marriage licenses with her name and signature on them. When the deputy clerks said they'd accomodate her and and took her name and signature off the marriage licenses they were issuing as she requested she decided that wasn't good enough, she didn't want the office to issue marriage licenses regardles of whether or not she had any part in it. She wanted to force the entire office to follow her "religious" beliefs. That is a violation of their religious beliefs.

The law treats government employees differently than the general public. The government must abide by the first amendment that requires the government to be neutral in regards to religion or irreligion, it cannot promote any religious viewpoint which is what it would be doing if it allowed Kim Davis to stop the issuance of marriage licenses in Rowan county due to her "religious" beliefs. The civil rights act is subject to the superior principle of the constitutions first amendment so while the civil rights act is law it is subject to the first amendment of the constitution.

A supreme court ruling from 2006 is applicable here:

"We hold that when public employees make statements pursuant to their official duties, the employees are not speaking as citizens for First Amendment purposes, and the Constitution does not insulate their communications from employer discipline," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the court. . Samuel A. Alito Jr , John G. Roberts Jr., Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas were in the majority on this . .
" When a citizen enters government service, the citizen by necessity must accept certain limitations on his or her freedom "

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-473.ZO.html


September 11, 2015 2:31 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

I said "she wanted to stop her entire staff from doing what she disapproves of on "religious" grounds. That is Davis trying to force her "religious" beliefs on the entire office. That is tyranny."

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "actually, it's an employer-employee relationship as long as she's responsible, they are her agents under the law"

Both she nad her deputies are subject to the law. She may be their supervisor but that does not give her the right to ask them to break the law as she did. Marriage equality is the law of the land and both she and her employees are required to follow it. She blocked her employees from following the law and for that reason was jailed for contempt of court. She was only released because her employees began issuing marriage licenses thus putting the rown county office in compliance with the law.

Wyatt/bad anonymous said "face it: all gays had to do was go to the next county".

And all those black children had to do when George Wallace was blocking them from entering a white school was go to the next school. This is exactly the same. Both Davis and George Wallace were illegally using the instruments of government to spit on people they disapproved of. That couldn't be allowed to stand then and can't be allowed to stand now.

September 11, 2015 2:37 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Homophobia linked with psychoticism and dysfunctional personality traits

Homophobic attitudes have been linked with psychoticism, a psychological trait present in several severe conditions that can also contribute to heightened states of hostility and anger. (Wikipedia defines psychoticism as a “personality pattern typified by aggressiveness and interpersonal hostility.”)

Led by researchers at the University of L'Aquila in Italy, the team asked 551 university students, aged between 15 and 30, to complete several psychometric tests to examine the psychological factors that could correlate with homophobia. Using questionnaires, they assessed homophobia levels, psychopathological symptoms, defence mechanisms and attachment styles.

Researchers found that people who scored highly on the psychoticism tests were more likely to have homophobic attitudes. This was also true of those who have immature defence mechanisms – which are the coping techniques helping people reduce anxiety produced by threatening people or uncomfortable situations. People who have immature defence mechanisms tend to be difficult to deal with. Finally people who have a fearful style of attachment, in that they find it difficult to form attachments, were also more predisposed to homophobic attitudes.

September 11, 2015 2:39 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Concluding, the team say homophobia is a huge social problem involving specific personality features in subjects. They said the findings highlight a "remarkable association between dysfunctional aspects of personality and homophobic attitudes" and that this association could lead to victims of homophobia. "Moreover, our study follows a controversial issue regarding homophobia as a possible mental disorder, and it also discusses the possible clinical implications that cross inevitably into the area of psychiatric epistemology."

Lead author Emmanuele A Jannini, president of the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine, said: "After discussing for centuries if homosexuality is to be considered a disease, for the first time we demonstrated that the real disease to be cured is homophobia, associated with potentially severe psychopathologies."

Commenter's note:
The irony of this is that prior to 1973 the mental health profession assumed without evidence that gayness was a mental illness. Begining with Evelyen Hooker's work in the 1950's research showed that gays were indistinguishable from heterosexuals on common measures of mental health. Up until now the mental health profession had assumed that homophobes weren't mentally ill but now the evidence is showing that they are.

September 11, 2015 2:39 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Kim Davis's persecution

September 11, 2015 2:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"freedom of religion means religious people can advocate for their point of view even if that view is motivated by religion"

Kim Davis' refusal to issue marriage licenses to all qualified couples in Rowan County was not an example of someone being an "advocate for their point of view."

It was an example of a government official forcing all qualified couples in Rowan County, gay and straight, to share her religious beliefs, which was a violation of their own religious beliefs. Davis was elected to serve residents of Rowan County, not to deny all qualified Rowan County residents their right to marry.

"Homosexuality was well know in the ancient world, well before Christ was born, and Jesus never said a word about homosexuality.

In all of His teachings about multiple things, He never said that gay people should be condemned."
-- President Jimmy Carter

"Don't speak to me about your religion; first show it to me in how you treat other people.

Don't tell me how much you love your God; show me in how much you love all His children.

Don't preach to me your passion for your faith; teach me through your compassion for your neighbors.

In the end, I'm not as interested in what you have to tell or sell, as in how you choose to live and give."
-- Sen. Cory Booker

September 11, 2015 3:17 PM  
Anonymous Dr Sigmund Droid said...

"Homophobic attitudes have been linked with psychoticism, a psychological trait present in several severe conditions that can also contribute to heightened states of hostility and anger"

everyone here is chuckling, Priya

if anyone has displayed anger and hostility, it is you

with 10 posts of hype, inflammatory language, and insults for every one comment disagreeing with you, you might want to consider the possibility that you're emotionally disturbed

there's some evidence you are



.

September 11, 2015 3:31 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Right wing terrorist group arrives in Rowan County to support Kim Davis

A heavily armed christian terrorist group has arrived in Rowan county vowing to prevent the arrest of Kim Davis should she choose to break the law when she returns to work on Monday. The group with the Orwellian name "Oath keepers" is best known for trying to provoke an armed conflict with the American federal government at the ranch of Cliven Bundy over Bundy's refusal to pay grazing fees for keeping his cattle on federal land.

The "Oath Keepers" is a group of increasingly resentful old male white right wing christians who see their influence in society waning and desperately want to "take back our country". They want to start a civil war with the federal government and seek confrontations like these in the hope of causing one.

Historically the rise of groups such as these and the government's unwillingness to confront them have signalled the beginning of the end for that country.

September 11, 2015 4:36 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Tom said "Without these "Religious Freedom" laws we christians would have to treat others as...EQUALS...we may lose our baseless sense of SUPERIORITY!"

Jill said "NO! Without that...we are NOTHING!"

September 11, 2015 4:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Kim Davis Debacle Reveals Frightening Truth About Desperate, Radicalized Christian Right

They don’t have the numbers anymore, so they are turning to more reactionary demands to seize power in any way they can.

The saga of Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who went to jail for a weekend rather than sign off on same-sex marriage certificates, might seem like it’s a last gasp for the anti-gay right; an attempt to eke out some kind of victory after having lost their two-decade fight against same-sex marriage. Unable to stop same-sex couples from marrying, Davis, along with a handful of anti-gay florists and bakers, strives instead to just make getting the license an embarrassing hassle. It’s childish sore loser behavior, the equivalent of a baseball player pouting in the dugout and refusing to shake hands with his opponent because he didn’t win the game.

Because of this, liberals can be forgiven for laughing and moving on, not particularly worried about Davis, whose temper tantrum isn’t even preventing the licenses from being issued any longer, as the judge authorized her deputies to hand them out. Unfortunately, though, Davis’s behavior isn’t just a bratty tantrum. This whole incident is also a sign of a troubling development in the religious right: As their cultural power declines in the face of growing diversity and liberalism, religious conservatives are embracing scary levels of radicalism. They don’t have the numbers anymore, so they are turning to scarier and more radical demands to seize power in any way that they can.

No doubt Davis is a comical figure whose self-righteousness is only equaled by her ignorance both of the text of the Bible she clings to and what it means to have a job as a government employee. But she’s being used by her legal team and other religious right leaders to spread the idea that religious conservatives are entitled to ignore — or even overthrow — democracy and seize power just because they feel like it.

Some supporters, like Ryan Anderson of the New York Times, are claiming that Davis wants an “accommodation” for her religious beliefs. This is, to put it bluntly, a lie. Davis was offered just such an accommodation and told that she doesn’t have to personally issue the licenses so long as her deputies were allowed to do so. She declined that compromise, insisting that she be able to actually prevent same-sex couples from getting licenses in her county altogether.

What Davis is asking for is not an accommodation at all, but for the right to declare, by fiat, that Rowan County, Kentucky, is a mini-theocracy not beholden to the laws of the land, but by the whims of Kim Davis. Her legal team wants you to see her as a sweet but faithful woman, but in fact she’s trying to pull a coup here, claiming that “God’s authority” — read Kim Davis’s authority — trumps our entire democratic system.

It’s not just her, either. Rena Lindevaldsen, who works for the Liberty Counsel, which is handling Davis’s case, has taken to boldly arguing that Christians have the right to overthrow the democratically elected government and simply impose their will by fiat. “Whether it’s zoning or taxes or marriage or abortion, in those issues, government doesn’t have authority to say that these things are appropriate because they’re contrary to Scripture,” Lindevaldsen recently argued in front of Liberty University. Which is to say that even though the government has declared abortion legal, if you decide you don’t want your neighbors getting abortions, you should be able to declare yourself a God-appointed authority and simply shut it down. If you don’t want to pay taxes, declare yourself a “sovereign citizen.”…"

September 11, 2015 5:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"...Mike Huckabee has been at the frontlines of pushing the claim that Christian conservatives simply have the right to ignore or overturn democracy to impose their will, and not just because he’s been running around Kentucky, trying to get himself on camera as much as possible in support of Davis’s attempt to ban gay marriage by fiat. He’s also been using the campaign trail to argue that the president should be able to simply end rule of law and start ruling like a dictator.

He doesn’t just the word dictator, of course, but make no mistake, Huckabee has repeatedly and shamelessly promised that if he is elected president, he will start declaring his beliefs to be the law of the land without the cooperation of Congress. In a Google hangout, he laid out the scheme: Declare as president that there are “constitutional rights of the unborn” and simply ban abortion by fiat. He claimed a similar authority during the Republican debate, a moment that got startlingly little play even though it was literally a candidate for president arguing that he would make himself a dictator.

Despite his regular references to the constitution when making these proclamations, Huckabee’s scheme would mean voiding out the constitution, as well, and not just because, despite his claims to the contrary, there is not a single word in it that gives citizenship status to embryos. It’s also because his scheme would mean ending the balance of powers, concentrating all the power of the legislature and the courts into the hands of the president.

And once you believe that your interpretation of what God wants trumps rule of law, not just for yourself but for your neighbors, then it follows very quickly that you are entitled to use force and even violence to get your way.

Some religious right leaders are, in fact, making noises that sound very much like justifying the use of violent force in order to overturn the social progress brought upon the U.S. from the democratic system. “No one should want it and no one, myself included, does want it,” conservative pundit Erick Erickson argued in an op-ed about the Davis case. “But how much longer until we have another civil war?” You can be forgiven for being skeptical of his claim not to want this, of course. On the contrary, it reads very much like a threat: Either give up the gains made under the democratic system or face violent overthrow by religious fanatics.

September 11, 2015 5:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

BIll board with an image of a cow behind three goats and text reading: "Dear Kim Davis, The fact that you can't sell your daughter for three goats and a cow means we've already REDEFINED MARRIAGE"

Planting Peace Sends a Message to Kim Davis

"September 11, 2015

Following the June 26th Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, Rowan County clerk Kim Davis refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses in her home state, citing that doing so compromised her religious beliefs. That day, she became the poster child for the anti-gay movement.

As has been painstakingly observed time and time again, the anti-LGBTQ movement is comprised of a substantial number of zealots who unfailingly refer to their rigid interpretation of religious text to narrowly define “traditional” institutions and values. They pick and choose what they wish to convey as immoral and unacceptable, while seemingly sweeping lines of scripture just a few letters away completely under the rug.

In response, Planting Peace has constructed a message for Kim Davis and the anti-LGBTQ movement. The intent of the billboard is to expose this narrow interpretation by Davis and others that they use to defend their discrimination against the LGBTQ community. It is important and relevant to call this out, because these messages and actions are not simply about a political or religious debate. There are LGBTQ youth across the world who are taking their lives at an alarming rate because of these messages from society that make them feel broken or less than. We have to meet hate with love…intolerance with compassion.

Our message to our LGBTQ youth is simple:
You are loved, valued, supported, and beautiful.
There is nothing wrong with you, and we will stand by you.
You are not alone."

September 12, 2015 8:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rick Perry: Oops!"

September 12, 2015 9:28 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Kim Davis's hypocrisy

September 12, 2015 12:47 PM  

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